


Kintsugi

by Malmacian_89



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Blood and Violence, F/F, Mutism, Scars, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 09:50:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 28,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19827640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Malmacian_89/pseuds/Malmacian_89
Summary: Clarke loses her only family member that cared and loved her, then got her heart broken by the one person she thought could be her everything and ended up somewhere she never thought she would. When her past came back to her in a place least expected, could that person still be her everything and save her from a life of misery?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE READ THIS NOTE BEFORE PROCEEDING.
> 
> T/W : This fanfic has bullying, beatings, mention of torture and some torture scenes. There's also some fighting scenes that might be a trigger to some readers. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION!! If I missed any tags, comment down below so I can add to it. 
> 
> I wrote this because I was angry at stuff so... Just enjoy the read. Take care and stay safe everyone.
> 
> For those of you who read my other fic called "Family is Strength", I apologize but I've deleted it and planning to change and re-write the whole story. I'll post it once I'm done writing it. It might be a while though. Sorry again
> 
> Sign languages are in italics. Written notes are '-' + bold + italics.

Life hasn’t always been nice to Clarke. Well, before everything went downhill for her, her life was... okay; to say the least. She is an only child to an engineer father; Jake Griffin and a successful surgeon mother; Abby Griffin.

Ever since she was young, she was never close to her mother. Abby was always working. She would go off to work before Clarke would wake up in the morning and be home after Clarke’s asleep at night. And when they do have dinner together, she doesn’t even know how to interact with her own daughter. Her father on the other hand was her life. He practically raised her. He worked mostly from home and only went to his office building if there’s an important meeting. But he always comes home at the end of the day to spent time with little Clarke.

But then one day, everything changes. One evening, on her 12th birthday, Jake took her out to dinner. Of course Abby forgets her own daughter’s birthday and to cheer her up, Jake told her to dress up nicely and he took Clarke on a date to a fancy restaurant. Jake was a perfect gentleman and did everything right for Clarke. Moments like these are what Clarke cherishes the most. All through dinner, they spent it with smiles and laughter. And in moments like these is when she figured out that she doesn’t need her mom.

That night when they were on their way home, they were happily singing along to the song on the radio when out of nowhere, a car swerved to their lane without signalling. It took Jake by surprise and he ended up swerving his car to avoid getting hit. Their car crashed through the rails on the side of the road and fell off the small hillside. Their car toppled and turned a couple of times before stopping upright once it hit a tree at the bottom of the hill. A couple in their car behind them saw the whole thing and they quickly called the ambulance.

Jake died during surgery due to complications of internal bleeding. While 12 year old Clarke ended up with a broken right leg, a couple of bruised ribs, a concussion, a huge gash on her left eyebrow and tiny scratch marks on her face and arms from the busted window when they were crashing. Even after that incident, you would think Abby would try and connect with her daughter but no. She goes deeper into her work and left Clarke to heal on her own.

As for the funeral, she doesn’t remember much because all she thought was that the only person to ever love her was dead. Ever since then she has never felt more alone in her life. And all that she’s left with from the accident was a huge scar above her left eyebrow.

Going back to school was harder. She’s a very smart and clever kid and because of that she doesn’t have friends. The only friend she thought she ever needed was her dad anyway. So when news about her accident and her father’s death spreads, she was subjected to bullying. So she learned to lay low and concentrated on her school and hope that high school would be kinder to her.

But of course, it wasn’t. Getting bullied in high school was worse because it gets physical. During her freshmen year, it was just the name callings then it led to pushing and shoving. It got worse when they started ganging up on her after school. She stayed quiet; never told anyone about it. Even when she was spotted with a black eye and bruised cheek the next day and the school ended up calling her mother about it but still she won’t say anything. Abby just lectured her when she gets home and then leave afterwards to take up extra shifts at the hospital. Clarke had no one and so she learned to endure the pain and clean her own wounds. When she’s alone in the quiet of the house it made her feel so empty and she misses her dad so much. She misses the laughs, the jokes, his cooking, everything. She just wishes that her dad would tell her that everything’s gonna be okay. But in the end, it was just her in the huge empty house. 

Then in the beginning of Clarke’s sophomore year, a new girl transferred to her school. Her name is Lexa Woods. Lexa is a person who won’t take shit from anyone. She practically ruled the school once she’s settled in and people wouldn’t dare to mess with her. People tried to be her friend but she prefers being alone. Girls and guys even tried to gain her attention but she doesn’t even bat an eye. But Clarke caught her attention. And for the first time, Lexa was a gay mess. She tried to talk to Clarke, but like her, Clarke prefers being alone. From time to time she notices how people treated Clarke but never once did she saw Clarke say anything. 

It was a couple of months after Lexa’s arrival at school that she first saw Clarke getting ganged up by three of the football jocks and their cheerleader girlfriends under the bleachers. She interfered without a second thought. She fought them and taught them a lesson. And ever since then Lexa was always there for Clarke even when Clarke didn’t want her to be. Lexa was actually 18 at the time. She said that she intentionally failed her senior year just to spite her father.

They got closer and they started dating 3 months later after that. Even when Lexa moved 8 hours away for college; they still made it work. Lexa would come and visit Clarke when she had breaks and she would call and text every day. It was all going fine for about a year when Lexa started getting distant. Every day calls turns to once a week and lasted for about 10 minutes. Every day messages turns to basically nonexistent. She had a feeling of what’s coming soon but she kept it to herself. Clarke thought that if she won’t say anything, maybe everything would be okay. And then one night after close to a week of radio silence, Lexa left Clarke a message that broke her already broken heart to pieces. All it said was: 

**_Lexa:_ **

_I’m sorry but we should break up._

_Maybe one day I’ll get to explain everything to you._

_But until then, please don’t try to find me._

_I’ll always love you. Take care of yourself._

_I’m so sorry._

**_-3:22 am_ **

Clarke tried calling Lexa but it went to voicemail. She tried again and again but with the same result. She never gave up trying until an automated voice said ‘the number is not in service’ anymore. Clarke’s world broke apart for the second time. She cried so hard that night. First her dad died and now Lexa left. Everything was a mess both in her life and in her head. She got so angry that she threw her phone against the wall seeing it shattered to pieces just like her heart; she tossed everything she can get her hands on and broke everything in her room that night. In school when she got bullied, she taunts the bullies to beat her up even more. For the first time, she welcomes the pain.

When she turned 18 and graduated from high school, she packed up her things and left without a word. She had the money that her mother transferred to her over the years. And before her father died, he made sure that if he dies that all of his life savings be transferred to her once she’s 18. So before she left, she took out all the money that her dad left her from a nearby ATM and left her card in her room before she left. She didn’t touch her mother’s money because... what’s the point? She doesn’t really need her mom anyway. Clarke made sure that she was never found. And so she never looked back.

She moved to Polis; 4 hours away from her hometown. She rented an apartment and worked at a bar a couple of blocks away from her apartment. It’s not so bad. She kept mostly to herself and her colleagues didn’t mind that much. On her free time she went to a gym. She decided to work on herself because of her anger she kept building inside. So she learned to tire herself out. She met Roan; the owner of the gym she frequented when he saw her one night working on the punching bag. He saw potential in her and decided to take her under his wing and taught her how to fight.

During one of her trainings with Roan, a woman who introduces herself as Nia came in to the gym and saw Clarke’s potential. Turned out, Roan is the son of Nia who is the leader of an underground organization called Azgeda.

She offered Clarke to fight for her and explained how everything works, how much she’s getting paid and she also made it clear that she has a certain way of ‘training’ her fighters. She also mentioned that once you accepted this, there’s no leaving the crew. Since Clarke had nothing else to lose, she accepted without any hesitation. She quitted her job at the bar and that’s how it all began. But what she missed was the look on Roan’s face when she accepted the deal.

As it turns out, Nia’s ‘training’ wasn’t your usual training at all. It’s more of like torture that her fighters have to endure. She has different methods of doing so. Burning, slashing, whippings; are some of her methods; to name a few. If you scream, you get more. She kept repeating the process every day until you learned to love it.

Clarke was ‘trained’ for a year. And in that duration, there were many times that Clarke wished that she made a different choice. And every night she wished that Nia would just kill her. Sometimes when she was still healing from the ‘training’, Nia would put her in a fight. Now scars littered her once smooth body. She tried covering them with tattoos but tattoos can only do so much.

After she went through her ‘training’, Nia would book her fights twice every week. She got so good that she never lost a match. Soon, she was known as Wanheda. News about her travelled throughout the underworld organization and it caught the attention of the Commander; leader of the 12 crews.

Clarke knew that Nia wanted the Commander’s leadership so she could rule all of the 12 crews. All the years of working for Nia, she has learned to keep her mouth shut and her eyes and ears open. Not that it’s any difficult to keep her mouth shut because she’s basically a mute now.

Three year ago during one of her matches that Nia made purely for her entertainment; she was faced with another Azgeda fighter. Her opponent ruptured her vocal cord so badly that now it rendered her unable to speak. She was out of action for a long while after that. But she did won that match that day.

She’s 25 now and she’s getting tired of fighting but she has to keep doing it. It’s the only way to survive. Along the years of serving Nia, she made a friend with one of Nia’s spies. Her name is Echo. And like her, she too was tired of it all. They both share the mutual thought of leaving the crew. They were both tired of being Nia’s pet. Planning to leave is easy but executing it was difficult. But they never stop trying to figure out how to leave this place. Echo also learned a bit of sign language because Clarke would use it sometimes if she doesn’t feel like writing.

Another person that she trusts is Roan. He’s a good man who doesn’t agree with what his mother has been doing. He voiced his disagreement to Clarke when she accepted the deal with Nia. But she didn’t listen back then. But he understood why she accepted. And now like Echo, he worries for Clarke too.

So here she is now, currently sitting in her room in peace when her phone vibrated with an incoming message.

**Roan:**

Mother has a fight for you tonight.

Be at her office at 6 pm.

**\- 3:17 pm**

She put her phone back on her nightstand after reading it and continues to sit in her room; in the quietness, staring at the wall in front of her. She’s been feeling numb after years of living this life. She kept thinking of the ‘what if’ in her life. She knows that there’s no point in dwelling on such thought but she couldn’t help but to think it. Quiet alone times like this made her think of her father and then to Lexa. After all these years, Lexa is still lingering in her mind. She had been angry at Lexa for leaving her, but after all these time of venting her anger through her fights, she just felt empty. She couldn’t help but to think how worthless she must have been that Lexa didn’t even try to explain why she left. But no matter what, she hoped that whatever Lexa left her for was worth it because given the life that she’s been living right now, anything else seems a lot better than this.

When 5pm came, she got up, got herself ready and left to meet Nia. It takes about 30 minutes on her dirt bike to get to Nia’s office. Better be early than late. She learned the hard way the first time she was late.

Once she got there, she was told to wait in the waiting room until she was called in. Nia loves making people wait on her. It took another hour for Nia to finally call her in. And when she did, all she was told was that the Commander was making an appearance for this fight and not to lose. She also mentions that the fight is to the death and her opponent is Carl Emerson. The meeting lasted for a total of 15 minutes before Nia dismisses her.

These kinds of matches are the ones she dreaded the most. She hates killing; seriously maim a person its fine but taking away someone’s life, is a whole other thing for her. But she has to; or else _she_ would be killed.

Once she got out of Nia’s office, she went straight to the underground arena where the fights usual was held and spent the rest of her time getting ready. When prepping herself, she would do some stretching, a few sets of push ups, pull ups, dipping, lunges and sit ups then spent the last remaining hour taping up her hands and wrists and then sitting in the quiet of her locker room until she was called.

When 10 pm hits, Roan came in with his sullen look on his face and escorted her out to the arena. He knows how much she hated killing and so after wishing her a quiet good luck, he moves to stand behind his mother. The arena was full of people from different crews but most are from Azgeda. She steps in the cage bare footed with her hood up. She wears a simple black legging, sports bra underneath her zipped up hoodie. Her opponent, Carl Emerson is already in the cage wearing his typical army clothing. He was ex-military. Clarke knows for the fact that Nia has been working with Emerson’s people but why she would want him dead was beyond her understanding. All she could hear was the noises from the crowd. She stood still waiting for Nia to make an announcement.

“Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please! I have brought forth this match because it was brought to my attention that Emerson has been embezzling money from me!” Nia started. The crowd booed before Nia turns and faces Emerson. “You think I wouldn’t find out?” Emerson looked surprised at the accusation before he shouted over the noise, “What?! I didn’t do it!!” But Nia ignores him.

“So! This match is... to the death! If you manage to win this Emerson, I will let you go free. Simple?” Emerson looks cornered and anxious. But Nia spoke before Emerson could say anything else.

“I’m sure you recognize your opponent.” She said to Emerson before turning and looking at the Commander sitting beside her. “Commander, I’d like to introduce his opponent to you, WANHEDA!!” Emerson was still shouting through the noise that he didn’t do it but was ignored. Clarke found it odd but she had a job to do. If she doesn’t, she’ll be the one to die tonight.

The crowd cheers and with that Clarke removes her hood and looks up to where Nia and the Commander were sitting. And to Clarke’s surprise, the person that is sitting next to Nia is the person that she thought she’ll never see again. She schooled her features; not giving anything away of her recognition to the Commander.

Lexa Woods. The girl that meant the world to her. Her first love; her protector. But she’s also the one that broke her world to a million pieces. And just like that, the fire inside her started burning again. And as for Lexa, this is the last place that she thought to ever see her Clarke. She masks her face to stoicism in an instant but her eyes still hold the initial shock to seeing Clarke in that fighting cage looking all scarred up with exhausted, hollow eyes. She has changed so much.

Clarke looks away from Lexa and turns to Nia and kneels before her. “Are you ready, Wanheda?” Nia asks. Clarke only nods her head. “You may begin!” Clarke stood up and turns to face her opponent; removing her hoodie without breaking eye contact with Emerson. Now with just a sports bra on, Lexa is able to fully see the extent of her scars and tattoos scattering all over her once clear and smooth skin.

Emerson realizes that this fight is still going to happen no matter what he said. So he gave in and faces Clarke. They came closer and started circling and sizing each other up. Emerson decides to throw the first punch as Clarke ducks and got a punch to his stomach. He staggers back a little but shook it off and came towards her again. He decides to kick her sides this time and while her attention was on his kicks, he threw a punch to her nose stunning her. She sways back while covering her nose and Emerson uses this opportunity to ram into her stomach; slamming her down to the ground.

He straddled Clarke in an instant and deliver blows after blows. She tries blocking him as best as she could but some punches manages to hit her. He even got a punch to her left ribs which made it hard for her to breathe. Clarke’s nose is already bleeding, her left eyebrow is split and so is her left bottom lip. Her right eye socket was starting to bruise as well.

She suddenly got a punch to his throat and she uses this distraction to roll him off and straddle him instead. It’s her turn to rain punches on him. She got his nose broken, busted his lips and gave a bruise to both of his cheeks. She was so angry and kept on delivering blows that she didn’t even realize that he had reached to his side pocket and took out a hunting knife. He sliced Clarke on her stomach and got her off of him. He stood up shakily and branded his knife for everyone to see. Clarke manages to stand up and clutches her bleeding stomach. He lunges at Clarke and swipes his knife left and right. She dodges most of it but he got a couple of slashes in anyway. When Clarke was near the corner of the cage, he kicked her in the stomach. She bounces off from the corner and fell to the ground; clutching at her stomach as Emerson turns around and riles up the crowd. He then pulls Clarke by her left leg and drags her to the centre of the cage and preceded to straddle her again. Once he was on top, he began to choke her. Clarke’s throat has been her weak spot since she ruptured it and Emerson seems to know that.

“The great Wanheda is about to lose. First time for everything, huh?” Emerson said through gritted teeth with a sadistic smile on his face.

Her vision was getting darker when he raises his right hand ready to stab her to her heart. She held his wrist and directs the pointer of the knife to somewhere above her heart and loosens her grip on him so he ended up stabbing her shoulder instead. She gritted her teeth hard and she didn’t let go of his hands that were still on the knife and with the last ditch, she gathered as much strength as she could and raises both of her legs and crosses them to his chest and pushes him back. She manoeuvres her body to his left and applied an arm bar to him. He started tapping on her leg but she ignores it and kept pulling his left arm back until she heard a pop. Emerson started screaming but Clarke didn’t let up. She pulls the knife out from her shoulder and stabs him multiple times with it to his chest. As he was coughing up blood, he claims for the final time that he didn’t do it. But Clarke delivers the final stab to his throat anyway and left the knife there. She watches him bleed out until she saw the life drain away from his eyes. And only then did she let go of his arm and slowly stood up. She wavered and ended up leaning against the cage’s fence.

When she was stable enough on her feet, she moves away from the cage fence. She turns and faces Nia. “Great job Wanheda. Thank you for your service. You may exit and get yourself fix up.” Clarke nods her head to Nia and turns her head slightly to Lexa. She looks at Lexa with tired eyes and nods slightly to her before she turns and staggers her way out of the cage to her locker room.

Lexa’s eyes follow Clarke’s retreating figure until she disappears through the entrance double doors. She wondered how Clarke became this? How did she ended up working for Nia; her enemy. She needs to find out. So after an hour of discussing business with Nia, she asks if she would be able to speak to Wanheda to congratulate her in person. Nia had a smug smile but allowed Lexa to see her. Nia and her son led her and her two guards to Clarke’s locker room.

In the locker room, Clarke is being stitched up by Echo. “You did great. After this you need to take care of this wound.” Echo said while pointing to her shoulder wound. “I’ll try and talk to Nia to giving you at least a month to heal. You need it.” Clarke gave a small appreciative tired smile and nods her thanks. She then winces when Echo applied the bandages to her tender wound. “Sorry.” Echo said softly.

Just then the locker room door burst open and in comes Nia, “The commander wish to congratulate you in person, Wanheda. You’re done for tonight.” Nia then looks to Echo, “Are you done?”

“Almost, just need to bandage her ribs.” Echo said almost robotically without looking up.

“Very well. Come see me right after.” Without waiting for Echo’s answer, she exits the room. Echo made eye contact with Clarke and rolled her eyes which earn a side smirk from Clarke. A few moments later, the door opens and Lexa steps in with her guards. Echo stood up and bows to Lexa. “Commander.”

Lexa return her with a single nod. Echo then turns to Clarke and gave her uninjured shoulder a gentle squeeze, “Rest up, okay.” Clarke did a ‘thank you, I will’ sign to Echo who gave a smile in return. Lexa furrowed her brows at the sign language that Clarke did. Once Echo is gone, Clarke is left with Lexa and her two guards.

“Leave us.” Lexa told her guards without looking at them but one of them protests. “Heda, you can’t possibly think being alone with her is a good idea.”

“I can take care of myself, Indra. Do not make me tell you again.” With a huff, Indra left but the other guard bowed to Lexa’s request before leaving the room. Clarke was still sitting facing away from Lexa staring at her locker in front of her while removing the tapes on her hands and wrists.

Lexa slowly steps forward, “Clarke.” She said her name softly.

Clarke pause her ministrations on her tapes and closes her eyes. She didn’t realize how much she had missed that voice calling out her name. Lexa was the only one that spoke her name with care and affection. Lexa was the one who gave her a reason to love. And Lexa was the one who made her whole again. But then she left; with just a message and no explanation as to why. Clarke opens her eyes and continues to unwrap the tapes on her hands and wrists; this time with more force.

Lexa took another step forward calling out to her again but this time, Clarke stood up abruptly and brought up her forearm to Lexa’s throat and slams her against the opposite locker. Even with her swollen beat up face, the fury burning in Clarke’s eyes was visible as day. The blue eyes that once shown light and happiness is now dull and angry. The bags under her eyes are hard to miss even when it’s swelling from the fight. Her eyes shift between Lexa’s eyes continuously before the tears started pooling and blurring her sight.

“I’m sorry for leaving.” Lexa whispers while staring deep into Clarke’s eyes making sure that Clarke knows that she meant it. She let go of Lexa but not before pushing her against the locker one last time. Clarke then moves back to sit in front of her locker, facing away from Lexa again. She grabs her hoodie and shoes and put them on slowly. Lexa moves to sit at the bench next to Clarke but made sure there’s plenty of space between them. She then started speaking in a quiet and calm voice.

“I tried to find you, I tried calling but your number wasn’t available. I went to your house but no one was home. I even went to the hospital and speak to your mom but she just told me that you’ll probably be home soon.” At hearing what Lexa said about her mom, Clarke couldn’t help but roll her eyes at that. Of course her own mother didn’t figure out that her own daughter was gone. “I didn’t know how else to find you.”

This was what Clarke wanted right? She didn’t want to be found. But she couldn’t help but wished that Lexa would have tried harder. She was feeling so lost during the first year on her own. She didn’t have anyone; she didn’t know what to do half the time. She had dark thoughts one too many nights. She couldn’t eat or sleep. She just existed. She didn’t even bother taking care of herself. But in the end she pulled herself back up and got a job at the bar. It wasn’t ideal but at least she had something to do rather than lying around at home doing nothing with dark thoughts looming around in her head. And this is what she did for a living now. Fight. Fight for her life every damn time. She’s become tired but she knows that she’s Nia’s prized possession. She couldn’t leave and so now she’s had no way to escape this prison.

She got up and took a notepad and pen out from her locker and wrote on it for Lexa to read. She always kept a notepad and pen nearby just in case she needs it.

**_\- What do you want?_ **

Lexa read it with a frown, “Why do you have to write it down?” Clarke breathes out a huff through her nose and gritted her teeth. She debated on telling Lexa about her mutism. So after debating in her head, she turns towards Lexa without making eye contact and pulls down the neckline of her hoodie and shows her the scar from the ruptured vocal cord she received before.

“Oh Clarke...” The look on Lexa’s face was not what she wanted from her and so she turns away and started scribbling furiously on her notepad again.

**_\- I don’t want your sympathy! What do you want Lexa?!_ **

Lexa sighs before she answers, “I told you I would explain everything to you if I had the chance.” She pauses to look at Clarke’s reaction but she was just looking straight ahead at her locker in front of her. “I’m willing to explain now that I’ve found you, if... if you’ll let me.” Clarke looks down to her notepad and started writing again.

**_\- You could’ve told me the night you left._ **

**_But you didn’t. You left me, Lexa!_ **

**_When I had no one! Why should I listen now?!_ **

“It was too dangerous back then. I can’t risk my father coming after you. Please let me explain. And once you hear me out, the choice is yours of what you want to make of it. I owe you this, Clarke. Please let me.” Lexa said softly almost pleadingly. Clarke closes her eyes and took deep breaths to calm her racing heart. Maybe she does need this; closure. Lexa’s right, she owes her this. Maybe after knowing she won’t be so angry anymore. She’s tired of being angry all the time. After a few minutes of thinking it through, she finally wrote on her notepad.

**_\- Fine. Meet me at the diner at TonDC Avenue tomorrow at 2 pm._ **

“I’ll be there.” Lexa replied gratefully. And with that Clarke stood up, grabs her jacket, her keys and helmet and walks out of the locker leaving Lexa alone to gather her thoughts. A few seconds pass before Lexa’s guards step in the locker room. Lexa was sitting leaning forward, her head in her hands as her fingers presses against her temple; massaging it.

“Are you alright, Heda?” Indra asks. Lexa just nods her head.

The other guard happens to be Anya, Lexa’s mentor and older cousin. Her mother was the younger sister to Lexa’s father. She taught Lexa everything before she became Commander. She had been quietly observing Lexa and she saw the look of recognition on Lexa’s face when Clarke removed her hood in the cage earlier.

“Indra, do you mind telling our driver to wait by the entrance, we’ll be there shortly. I need a moment with my cousin.” Anya told Indra politely and with a huff, Indra went on her way.

“She’s your Clarke. Isn’t she?” Lexa just looks at her cousin with sad eyes before replying with a sigh. “Yeah.” Unlike Indra, Anya is more understanding so she returns the same look to Lexa as well.

“What are you going to do?” Anya asks gently and moves to sit next to her cousin.

“I’m meeting her tomorrow at the diner at TonDC.”

“Hmm okay at least she picks a place that is safe for you. But do you need me to come with?”

Lexa shook her head, “No, I don’t think that’s necessary. But thanks for the offer anyway.”

“You’re gonna tell her everything?”

“Yes. Father isn’t here anymore. And he can’t stop me now.”

“I’ll support you cousin. Quite frankly, I never like your father. Since he was family, I had no choice but to stay loyal to him. I’m glad that you challenged him when you did.”

“He was running us to the ground, and threatening to kill Clarke if I didn’t break up with her?” Lexa shook her head at the memory. “I just wish I never listened to him.”

“Hey, don’t dwell on the past. You weren’t ready to stop him back then. Clarke is here now; it’s your second chance to make this right.”

Lexa just nodded her head as she sighs. “Come on. Let’s go home. We can deal with Nia after you have deal with Clarke.” They both stood up and exeunt the building to their car that is waiting for them by the entrance.

~~

At 1.30 pm the next day, Clarke was already seated at the diner with a cup of iced tea. After years of working for Nia, she’s learned to be early. The punishments she would receive from Nia if she was even a minute late were harsh and now the consequences has been ingrained in her brain if she’s ever late. She knows that Lexa is nothing like Nia, but still... it’s already become a habit.

She picked a booth at the back corner of the diner, away from the windows. She is seated with her back against the entrance and her front facing the wall. She’s been doing that a lot; staring at blank walls unblinking. She may be quiet but her thoughts were loud. Hearing her mind speaks to her, reminding her of all the things that she did to survive; the pain of losing her father and then to the thought of Lexa leaving her.

Her mind would always take her back to the time being in ‘training’ with Nia, the screams she let out when her nails were being forcefully ripped off one by one, getting beaten so badly until her face was swollen beyond recognition. She would leave her in a cold cell with no bed and with only a thin fabric t-shirt and leggings, for days on ends. She would continuously brand her with the hot iron poker all over her body. But Nia’s personal favourite was to get her tied up to a pole and have her whipped until she lost consciousness. The sadistic part about it was Nia would seat in front of her and get herself off by Clarke’s pain and agony. There were so many painful ways that she went through to choose from in her mind. Nia was right, she would never forget it.

She’s been sitting there unmoving, staring at the wall that she didn’t notice someone was standing beside her; observing her. Not until the person rests their hand on her shoulder that got her to snap out of her memories. She flinches and looks up to the person; wide eyed and surprised. Lexa was standing there looking at her with so much concern that she broke the eye contact and look down on the table. Lexa silently made her way to the empty seat in front of Clarke and sat down. 

“Have you eaten?” Lexa asks softly which Clarke only nods even when it’s a lie. Lexa can see through her but she didn’t push. The waitress came and took Lexa’s coffee order and sat in on the table a few minutes later before walking away again. Clarke was still looking down on the table, waiting for Lexa to start explaining.

“I know you wanted an explanation. So, I’m not gonna beat around the bush.” Lexa begins. “Uh... By now you should know about me and the 12 crews. Well... my father was the leader of Trikru; my crew and also the previous Commander. I was always supposed to be his successor. But I didn’t wanna be so I rebelled against him and did everything to make him pissed off at me so that he would rethink his choice of letting me succeed him.” She pauses. “Even though I hated the thought of leading, I still learned everything about it. Anya, my cousin, taught me everything there is to know about the 12 crews, businesses and fighting.” She sighs and gathered her thoughts before continuing.

“I just wanted to be normal. When I met you, it made me care even less about all this... underground shit.” That got Clarke to look up at Lexa. “My father found out about us and he kept on repeating his teachings to me that ‘love is weakness’. How could it be when I felt it with you? And so I told him so. He didn’t take it lightly and threaten me. He found out where you live and he had men spying on you 24/7. I was 8 hours away from you; I can’t be there in time if he decided to...” Lexa trails off and sighs.

“Anyways, he sends me videos of you on a daily basis and told me that he can get you killed in an instant if he gave the word. He gave me one last chance to break it off with you and so I did. I had no choice. He pulled me out of college right after.” Lexa stops and looks down to her fiddling hands.

“I wanted so badly to call you or text but he threw away my phone and bought me a new one that he bugged so that he knows what I was doing with it. He had his men following me, just in case I sneak off to see you or defy him in any way.” She pauses and look into Clarke’s eyes, “I’m sorry that I had to do it. I’m sorry for leaving you. I just wanted you safe. But when I finally got my chance to find you, you were gone. I had people waiting outside your home but you never came home.” She paused for a few moments before she went ahead and ask. “Where did you go?” Lexa’s eyes were pleading.

Without realizing, a tear rolled down Clarke’s face. For a few minutes, Clarke just stared at Lexa. She then looks down to the table just processing what Lexa just told her. Lexa didn’t mean to leave. She was forced to. All this time she spent hating her for leaving, was for what? It only made her regret the choice she made in taking the deal to work for Nia even more. She slowly wipes the tear away and reaches into her leather jacket and took out her notepad and begins writing.

**_\- It doesn’t matter now. What’s done is done. I made a choice to leave without a trace. I didn’t wanna be found. It’s not your fault. I wanted it that way._ **

She slowly pushes the notepad towards Lexa for her to read. “I should have tried harder.” Lexa tried but Clarke only shook her head.

**_\- I was so angry at you, at the world. This helped; really. So thank you for telling me._ **

“I told you I would one day. I really am sorry for leaving.” Lexa said hoping that Clarke knows how much she meant it.

**_\- I know and I forgive you._ **

**_What happened to your father? If you don’t mind me asking._ **

“I found out that my father was helping Nia plot a plan to destroy the other crews. Every crew had faith in the Commander but after they found out about my father’s intentions, he became everyone’s enemy. My cousin begged me to take his place if not all of Trikru would be slaughtered by the others. And so I challenged him to a fight to the death and... I won.”

“When I issued the challenge, I made sure that every leader of the 12 crews was present. And before I... finished him, I made him confess. But somehow Nia was able to cover her tracks and by then some of the crews are already on Nia’s side. My father’s confession is not enough for them to believe me since my father broke their trusts to begin with. I need solid proof and I’ve been trying to gain her trust and then I heard about Wan- well... you. And honestly I couldn’t care less about Nia’s fight pit but that night she insists on giving me a show of her ‘prized fighter’ in action. So yeah...” Clarke continues listening attentively. She knows that Lexa was dying to ask her. So she waited.

A few moments past when Lexa decided to ask gently, “How did you end up with her?” She then patiently waits for Clarke to write down on her notepad.

**_\- Roan found me while I was punching my anger out at his gym. He said he saw potential in me. He decided to train me and one night, Nia came for him but she saw me training and I caught her attention. She recruited me. I accepted without another thought cuz... I had nothing to lose._ **

After reading it, another question popped up in Lexa’s head. “Your... s-scars. Uhm, are they... are they from fights?”

**_\- Some of them are. Most are from her. She calls it ‘training’._ **

“What did she do?”

**_\- Too much._ **

“Don’t go back there. I’m here I can keep you safe.” Lexa said after a few minutes.

**_-I’ll be fine. Besides, it’s too late for me. I’m in too deep. Anyways, if you want help in getting dirt about Nia, look for Echo. She may be a spy for Nia but she’s my friend. Trust her to help you. Tell her I sent you. Her private number is xxx-xxx-xxxx. I gotta go._ **

Clarke tore the paper and slides it to Lexa. She stood up and was about to walk away when a hand held on her forearm, stopping her.

“Wait! Am I gonna see you again?” Lexa asks desperately.

Clarke leans down and whispers hoarsely to Lexa. “Don’t know...”

Since she ruptured her vocal cord, Clarke is still able to whisper or speak really softly but it hurts if she does so. Besides, she doesn’t have any reason to use her voice anyway; until today.

She lowers her head to Lexa’s cheek and kisses it softly. She then smiles sadly at Lexa before walking away. Lexa was left sitting there dumbstruck and she gently traces the spot on her cheek where Clarke’s lips left its mark. She closes her eyes and remembered how much she misses her.

While they were talking, Clarke didn’t realize that she was being followed by one of Nia’s men. He saw Clarke meeting Lexa. He took a picture of both them sitting face to face at the diner together and sends it to Nia. After he did so, he drove off.

Lexa was still sitting there thinking back about what just happened a few moments ago. She snaps out of it when Anya sat with a huff at the seat Clarke just vacated a while ago.

“How did it go kid?”

“Uhmm... It went pretty well actually. She said she forgive me.” Lexa said.

“That’s good, but why aren’t you celebrating?”

“I don’t know... After I told her the truth, her eyes held something close to... regret? I don’t know. She just looks so sad and exhausted.”

Anya nodded before asking, “Did you ask where she went, when you tried to find her?”

“I did. She just said that... well more like write on her notepad that what’s done is done and that she chose to disappear without a trace.”

“Why did she have to write it down? Can’t she speak?” Anya asks curiously.

“Oh uh... I forgot to mention that she can’t really speak anymore. She showed me her scar on her neck last night when I ask her why.”

“Oh... So what now?”

“Well she left me this.” Lexa said as she showed the note paper that Clarke left her.

“Do you think you can trust this... Echo?” Anya asks with furrowed brows while still looking down at the piece of paper.

“I don’t know. I trust Clarke and she seems to trust her. So...”

“Then maybe you should try.”

“You really think I should?”

“Well yeah, I mean, just don’t give anything in return. That way you have nothing to lose.”

“I could lose Clarke.”

“I know kid but Clarke has been with Azgeda for God knows how long. She can take care of herself.”

Lexa looks down at the note paper and contemplates whether she should call. Maybe she should just try. Well, she trusts Clarke and Clarke trusts this Echo. It’s the only chance she had of finding out the truth about Nia.

With a sigh, she picks up her phone and dialled the number. After speaking to Echo, she was surprise that Echo decided to meet instead. She said she would rather talk face to face. And so they agree on a venue and time.

They met a couple of times and she told Lexa everything she knows about Nia; ranging from Azgeda’s businesses to Nia’s plan of wanting to destroy everything and everyone so that Azgeda could be the dominant gang crew in all of Polis. She also told Lexa that she found out that Nia betrayed Emerson. She was asked from Clarke to find out about that because the last words Emerson said before he died was that he didn’t do it. Nia had a partnership with the Mountain crew, so why would she kill Emerson? Echo also mentioned that Nia’s ultimate plan was to kill her. At the time, it wasn’t known how she was going to do that yet. And now with the knowledge of the stuff that Echo told her, she could prepare herself.

From then on, Echo became Lexa’s secret informant with only Anya knowing about it. Echo kept in touch with Lexa; informing her if there are any changes. And at times, Lexa would ask about Clarke and for her to look out for her. Of course, there are some things that were beyond Echo’s capability. 

~~

3 months and 12 days has passed since Clarke met Lexa at the diner and it was 3 months and 13 days since her last fight. She was given a month to recuperate and when she did; Nia booked her fight after fight. It’s almost as if she wouldn’t let Clarke rest and heal properly when she ordered her to fight again. She’s tired and in pain. Black eyes are still visible, split lips are still fresh, bruises are bearable but Nia still never let her rest.

**Echo:**

Something’s up. 

Heard your name mentioned while

waiting outside her office.

**-4.05 pm**

**Roan:**

Mother sent someone to come and get you.

I have no idea what’s going on.

But I have a bad feeling about this.

Just be prepared.

**\- 4.12 pm**

Confuse at the strange messages; with a heavy sigh she got up and put on her shoes and jacket. She left her place and waited for whoever it is to come pick her up at the parking lot. 5 minutes later, the person arrives and she got in the car. Still confuse as to what was happening, the guy didn’t even glance at her and so they rode in silence all the way to the direction of the fighting pit.

Once they’ve arrived, the guy led her down a couple sets of stairs. And as they got closer to the bottom, muffled screams were heard beyond the black heavy door. And that’s when Clarke realized, Nia’s going to ‘train’ her again. Just when she thought that she got used to this, she’s actually not. The memories started flashing in her mind that she was starting to panic but she tried to not let it show.

 _What did I do? I haven’t done anything? Why is she doing this?_ _I swear I didn’t do anything... Please..._

Suddenly, she was shoved in a room with a lone figure inside. She recognizes the woman. The woman was her ‘trainer’, Alti. She would do what Nia told her to ‘specifically’ do.

“Sit, Clarke.” She said in a polite tone as she presented the chair in the middle of the room. Clarke looks suspiciously at her but did what she was told.

“Remove your jacket, please.” Alti said nicely with a smile but her smile was anything but nice.

Once she has removed her jacket, Alti stood behind her, resting both her hands on Clarke’s shoulders; squeezing them. “Do you know why you’re here?” Clarke furrowed her brows and shook her head. Alti moves to the front of her and her smile never falters.

“I ask again, do you know why you’re here?” Again Clarke shook her head no but this time it earns a punch to her face. Her face was still healing from all the fight’s Nia made her compete these past few months. And now, she’s being hurt again. And so that’s how it started; earning a punch every time she shook her head no. It went on for about an hour when Alti suddenly stops asking. By then, Clarke’s top and bottom lips was split open, her nose is bleeding and so are her eyebrows, her eye sockets are swelling and her cheeks are both bruised and her head is suddenly heavy and it falls limp to the front.

Alti then forcefully grab and pull Clarke’s chin up which made her winced at the sudden movement. “Oh. You really don’t know.” She wasn’t asking but more like stating the fact. She let go of Clarke’s face and walks over to the table at the corner where her phone is. She scrolls through it for a few seconds and stops to show it to Clarke. It’s a picture of Clarke and Lexa at the diner a month ago.

When Clarke saw the picture, her eyes widen as much as it could given the swellings. She now realizes that she’s being punished. They don’t bother asking why Clarke and Lexa had a meeting, Nia would just assume because pictures speaks louder than words after all. She already couldn’t speak and now given the pain that are being inflicted to her, she doubts that she will be able to write anyway. So all she had to do is endure whatever will be given to her... again.

Alti did a number to her. After the punches, she tied Clarke’s wrists to the chair and starts breaking her fingers on her right hand; one at a time. Tears were already falling from her eyes from the pain but it doesn’t stop there. Alti taunts her more and then pulls her by her broken hand to the wall and chains her up. She then started using Clarke’s body as a punching bag. She was told by Nia to bruise Clarke up badly but not to kill. By the end of it, Clarke is hanging limply against the wall.

“You’re lucky that Nia didn’t want you killed. She has a surprise for you later.” Alti told her with a smile before kissing Clarke. Alti then licks off the blood on her lips; humming at the taste before leaving Clarke hanging on the wall.

Clarke was relief when Alti left but she is nervous to what Nia had in store for her later on. Both her eyes are almost swollen shut, both of her cheeks are bruised, her bottom and top lip are both split and swollen as well, fingers on her right hand are broken which cause it to turn bluish red, her abdomen are probably the same colour by now. She’s in pain and exhausted. All she wants to do is close her eyes and to let her tired body rest.

She was awoken abruptly from her rest when someone slaps her awake. Her blurry vision found two men trying to release her from the wall. They then dragged her limp body by her arms all the way to the hall. Inside the hall there’s a pole planted in the middle of it.

The hall is the place where Nia does her whippings. A single spot light shone only on the pole and the floor was covered with dried blood. Suddenly memories of her previous whippings came to her mind. And it’s one of Clarke’s most hated places. She despises this place so much because she would remember how Nia would pleasure herself while Clarke was being whipped. It’s sick. And now the men are dragging her to this God forsaken place.

They chained her up and left her kneeling with her front against the pole. She didn’t know for how long she was left there but then she heard the hall doors open and the quiet was disrupted by Nia’s booming voice.

“Clarke, Clarke, Clarke. I thought you knew better than this. Meeting the Commander behind my back? You think I wouldn’t know? HUH?! You disappoint me.” Nia then grabs Clarke by her hair and pulls it back hard to make her look at her. “Normally I’d have traitors be killed but lucky for you I decided to go easy on you. Enjoy your punishment Clarke. I know I will.” Nia then slams her head against the pole and laughs while walking away; out of the hall. All Clarke could do is just let her tears fall.

 _It hurts. It hurts so much. And I’m tired._ It plays over and over in her head. 

**_\- 2 hours ago -_ **

_Echo was in a meeting with Nia and other high ranking people of Azgeda. “I’ve recently discovered that Wanheda had a meeting with the Commander behind my back. I’ve had enough of The Commander sticking her nose into my business. And so tonight, I’m inviting her here to witness Wanheda’s punishment. I want you and your men to secure this building and be at a ready because I’m sure the Commander doesn’t go anywhere near me without her people lurking around. When I give the signal to Echo, she will kill the Commander and once she’s gone we will destroy the rest of Trikru and anyone who dares to fight against us!”_

_“All hail the queen!!” Nia’s men said in unison. After discussing further, they were all dismissed._

_Once Echo and Roan stepped out of the meeting room, they quickly went to a secluded area. She made a phone call to warn the Commander while Roan keeps a look out. The phone only rings twice when the Commander picked up. “Echo.” Lexa’s ever stoic voice came through._

_“Heda. I’m sorry to disturb you but I’ve called to warn you that Nia is planning to assassinate you tonight. She will have men around the building. She found out about your meeting with Clarke.”_

_There was a pause before Lexa’s voice came through, “Is she alright?”_

_“I haven’t seen her yet. But if I know any better, she probably already had Clarke somewhere in the building.” Echo replied._

_“How can you be sure that she didn’t already kill Clarke?”_

_“Nia wanted you to witness it Heda. She said so herself.”_

_Lexa sighs, “Alright, uh... Tell me how many men are going to be there and their coordination.”_

_“There will be a total of 30 men. 15 of them will be all over the inside of the building in groups of 3. Their rotations will be every 10 minutes. 2 snipers will be at the top of the building and the rest would be outside, guarding every entrance.”_

_Lexa breathes out before continuing. “Okay, take note of anymore changes and keep me updated. Thank you, Echo. If possible, find Clarke and tell her to hold on... please?”_

_“I’ll try Heda. See you soon.”_

_~~_

Back at the hall, Clarke was alone with her thoughts again when one of the hall doors opens slightly and in came Echo. She rushes towards Clarke and gasps at the damages done to her. Echo held Clarke’s chin up and directs it gently towards her, “Are you okay?” Clarke’s eyes remain closed with brows furrowed because of the headache she’s currently feeling but she was awake and aware of her surroundings. She only manages a single tiny nod towards Echo.

“Heda’s coming. She told me to tell you to hold on for her. Can you do that?” And Clarke manages another tiny nod. “Alright, I have to go. Please hold on a little longer, okay.” Echo quickly sneaks out of the hall undetected and Clarke was left with silence again. It gave her hope knowing that Lexa’s coming. She’s coming for her. She has to hold on. She has to stay strong. 

When 9 o’clock hits, the hall doors opens again and Nia, along with Roan and three of her men walks in. Trailing behind them is Lexa, Anya, Indra and two other men of hers. Clarke was just barely able to lift her head to look at Lexa.

Lexa is shock at what has been done to Clarke but she quickly masks it so as to not draw anymore suspicions. And so she followed Nia to the front seat. A few moments later, Alti came in with her whip wrapped around her waist.

“Tonight, I want you to bear witness the punishment of Wanheda.” Nia explains to Lexa.

Lexa played along and asks, “What did she do? If I may ask.”

Nia turns to Lexa and smiles menacingly, “She betrayed me. Well... normally I would have those tortured and kill but Wanheda? She gets a special treatment. Consider her lucky.” 

Lexa gritted her teeth and turns away from Nia. She’s not particularly ready to see the love of her life getting hurt. But she has to remain stoic. The Commander couldn’t show weakness. Nia gave a nod for Alti to begin. Alti steps forward and rip the back of Clarke’s t-shirt off. She then unclasps the bra and walks back to her spot. She unwraps the whip from her waist and swings them around for effect and suspense. Alti’s whippings were unpredictable. At times she will whip you 3 times in a row and at times; one at a time. Sometimes it goes deep and hard, other times it’s not.

But tonight, she goes hard and deep; one at a time; it’s slow and excruciating.

When the first whip came, Clarke squeeze her swollen eyes shut and tried to will the pain away. Then comes the second and by the third, she’s gritting her teeth so hard it’s possible that she might break her jaw. When it reaches the forth, Clarke raises her tired and teary eyes to meet Lexa’s. She started coughing when the fifth came and Clarke started to shakily reach above and fists on the chains that held her wrists. It was unbearable but she didn’t care. Anything is better than the pain currently being inflicted on her back.

Clarke thinks her limit this time would be 10 because by the seventh, she’s already close to passing out. She’s already loosening her grip on the chains, her body’s starting to go slack against the pole and she thought that this was it, she can’t take it anymore. She’s so tired; she just wants to close her eyes. But just when Alti reached the eighth, all hell broke loose. The distant sounds of gunshots could be heard outside the building. Clarke has never been so grateful for the interruption.

“Ambush!!” Indra shouted. Then guns started firing between Nia’s people and Lexa’s. In the midst of it all, Nia manages to escape while the other three provide with covering fire, but Lexa’s people and Roan manages to shoot them down easy.

Alti was trying to make an escape as well but was shot down by Echo just when she opened the hall doors. Echo and Lexa quickly made their way towards Clarke’s limp body and unchains her gently; mindful of the damages done to her.

“Indra, Anya, Gustus, go help the others outside. And I want casualty report once everything is over. Go!!” Lexa barks the order.

“What about him, Heda?” Indra asks with her gun pointed to Roan’s face.

“He’s with us. NOW GO!!” And with that the three of them ran off to help the others outside the building.

“Echo, is there a safe way out of here?”

“Yes, Heda. My car is already park near one of the exits.”

“Okay, good. Lincoln, help me pick Clarke up. Echo, lead the way.”

Echo took point; Lexa walks next to Lincoln who is carrying Clarke bridal style. She was whimpering at the movements even when Lincoln tried to be as gentle as possible. Roan followed from behind. By this point, everybody was busy fighting at the entrance of the building while the back way is deserted; only a couple of stragglers hiding out through the chaos along the way to the back exit whom of which Echo kills easily.

Once they reached the exit, true to her word, her mustang was there waiting for them. Lexa opens the back door and Lincoln slowly and gently laid Clarke on the back seat with her front down. He quickly moved and occupies the passenger seat while Lexa took the back seat by Clarke’s head. She then lifts Clarke’s head gently and rests it onto her lap. Clarke was already passed out by then.

“I’ll follow you in my car behind.” Roan said before he shuts the back door to the mustang.

“Where to?” Echo asks while driving away from the Azgeda building.

“Trikru. I’ll direct the way to you.” Lincoln answers her.

By then Lexa doesn’t care about her surroundings. All she cares about is Clarke. She held her right hand gently on Clarke’s broken one; whispering that she’s safe now. Echo and Lincoln look through the rear view mirror at Lexa caressing and whispering sweet nothings to Clarke’s unconscious form. They turn to look at each other with sullen looks on their faces. They’ve never seen the Commander this way. Normally Lexa was fierce and stoic. This is a whole different side of Lexa that nobody has ever seen. Besides Anya that is.

Once they reached the Trikru manor, Lexa asks the guards to call Nyko and bring him to her room immediately. She told Echo and Roan to stick with her at all times. They quickly brought Clarke to Lexa’s room and laid her gently on the bed. The moment Clarke was put down; she woke up suddenly and started tossing around. Echo was quick to her side and held her hand to try and calm her down.

“Clarke? Clarke, hey what’s wrong?” Echo asks. And all Clarke did was points her pointer fingers against each other.

She kept doing that repeatedly when Lexa asks. “What does it mean?”

“It means hurt. She’s in pain.” Echo answers and then turns her attention to Clarke. “Where does it hurt?” Clarke was still tossing around. “Clarke, you have to tell me where it hurts?”

Clarke shakily raises her hand and pointed at her back and stomach. “Okay, I’m going turn you to your side, okay? Now... 1, 2, 3!” And on three, Echo turns her to her side and positions her in a foetal position. Only then did Clarke finally calms down.

Clarke had tear stains on her face by the time she completely stopped tossing around. Without opening her eyes, she started signing; spelling Lexa’s name to Echo.

Lexa looks on when Echo turns to her, “She’s asking for you.” Lexa steps towards the bed and kneels on the side of the bed. She gently held Clarke’s broken right hand with her left and caresses Clarke’s hair with the other.

“I’m here.” Lexa says gently. Clarke tries to say something so Lexa leans her right ear close to Clarke’s mouth when she whispered hoarsely, “Don’t... leave...” Lexa leans back with tears pooling in her eyes. She continues caressing Clarke’s head, “I won’t. Not this time. I promise.” Clarke nods shakily before relaxing to Lexa’s soft caresses. And so they waited for Nyko to arrive.

Nyko is a certified doctor. He has a clinic 30 minutes away from the manor and it’s been funded by the Woods family. Nyko is finishing up his last patient when he received a call from one of Lexa’s guards asking him to get to the manor as fast as he could. When he reaches the bedroom, Lexa was quietly talking to Clarke to keep her awake. Lexa explains the injuries and he tried to fix her as best as he could.

“It looks like a couple of her ribs are cracked. Her stomach, from what I can see is just bruised up but I still need to bring her to the clinic for a scan just in case. She has a concussion and broken right hand.” Nyko confirms the injuries that Clarke has. He then slowly and gently pokes and prods at her back and saw that some of the slashes needed stitches.

“Some of these slashes needed to be stitched up. I can do that now. But we still need to bring her to the clinic after to scan her stomach just to check if there are any internal injuries and then do an x-ray to see if there is anything else that’s broken.” Nyko told Lexa which she nods her approval. “Heda, do you mind sitting on a chair beside the bed?” Lexa grabs a chair and sat down on it. “Okay, I’m gonna sit her up and I’m going to let her lean on you so I could stitch her back, is it okay with you?”

“Of course. Do what you must. But why can’t you just roll her over?”

“Because her stomach is already bruised up, it might be uncomfortable for her if she lies on it for too long.” Nyko explains.

And with Echo’s help, they both sat Clarke up slowly and leans her gently onto Lexa. It’s like a hugging position. Clarke rests her head on Lexa’s shoulder and she shakily raises her left hand and held on to the front of Lexa’s shirt.

Clarke whimpers when Nyko injected anaesthesia on her back. Lexa softly caresses the back of Clarke’s head on her shoulder and whispers soothing things to her. It took less than an hour for the stitches to be done. And once it was, Lexa had Lincoln carry Clarke to the waiting car outside.

They brought her to the clinic and did the scan and x-ray. Lucky for her she’s not in any danger and there are no other broken bones or any internal injuries. But Nyko did saw a lot of messed up bones. It looks like they weren’t healed up properly. He told Lexa this while he was putting casts on her hand.

Lexa looks at Clarke worriedly. Nyko insisted on letting Clarke stay in the clinic for close observation but Lexa said that she can take care of Clarke herself. Nyko knows not to argue and prescribes her with antibiotics and pain killers before letting them leave.

For the first week, Clarke had a fever and Lexa stayed by Clarke’s side, cleaning and redressing her bandages, feed her and help her to the bathroom. She only steps out of the room for a meeting with the rest of Trikru for reports on the current situation. They all have heard of three of Azgeda people taking refuge in the manor and some of them don’t like it and are not shy to show their hatred for it.

“Why would you bring those Azgeda scum back to our manor?!” Quint asks angrily.

“The reason why is none of your concern and it’s MY manor. And if you must know, two of them has been working for me and had warned me about my impending assassination. What have you been doing?” Lexa said calmly which left him speechless. She then looks to the rest of them, “If any of you try to harm them in any way, you will end up with a bullet through your brain. Understood?” They all nodded. “Dismissed.”

Indra tried to stop her from leaving but Anya told her to let her go. Lexa exits the meeting room and went straight back to her room where Clarke is. Upon entering, Lexa saw Echo sitting beside the bed; watching over Clarke’s sleeping form. Without looking up, Echo started speaking softly. 

“Clarke’s a strong person. In my time serving Nia, never once I’ve seen anyone with fire and determination in their eyes like Clarke. Most people that went through what she did, either gave up, dies or lost a fight one too many times that Nia had no need for them anymore.” Echo pauses. “The first time I saw her fight was with a man twice her size. He was one of us. He was a skilled fighter and at that moment I thought, Clarke would never make it. She was beaten up so badly but she wouldn’t give up. Punch after punch she received but she never stayed down. And I knew then that she was something. She proved me right by winning that night. I offered to patch her up that night and ever since, I patched her up after every fight. She became a friend to me.”

Lexa stayed quiet and listened to what Echo was recalling. She then move towards the window and looks on at Echo. “Even when she had her voice, she doesn’t talk much. I tried asking her about her past but she never told me and I never pushed. It must have been something bad that made her ended up here.” Lexa looks away because she knows that a part of it was her fault. Even though she was forgiven, she still feels like she doesn’t deserve it.

“I never ask but, how did you know Clarke?” Echo asks. Lexa turns and saw that Echo was already looking at her. “Let’s just say we had history.” And before Echo could ask anymore, Clarke was stirring awake.

“Hey you’re awake. How are you feeling? Scale from 1 to 10; 10 being the worse.” Echo asks. So Clarke wrote a 6 with her pointer finger on Echo’s palm. “Okay. That’s good.” Clarke then moves her sight to Lexa, who is standing by the window and looking at her. “Okay, I’m going back to my room. Call for me if you need anything?” Clarke answers by nodding her head.

Once Echo left, Lexa still looks unsure of what to do. She stood frozen by the window; looking down on her feet. Clarke extended her left hand to Lexa, inviting her to come closer. Lexa looks up and saw the extended hand. She walks slowly towards the side of the bed and sat on it. She gently held on Clarke’s hand and look up to Clarke’s still healing face. The swell has gone down immensely and her bruises are turning shades of dark blue and yellow. Same goes for her abdomen. Her eyes were still bloodshot red but she seemed better now.

“Are you okay?” Lexa asks unsurely which earns her a single nod. “Are you hungry?” Clarke only shook her head.

“I... just... want... to... look... at... you...” Clarke whispers. Lexa leans closer and let her while gently caressing Clarke’s face and head. “Take as long as you’d like. I’m not going anywhere.” She said with a sad smile. 

They spent the next 10 minutes silently looking into each other’s eyes when Lexa voices out the words she had longed to say. “I missed you.” She whispers the words to Clarke. “I never stopped.” Lexa sighs before continuing. “There are so many things I wanna say to you but now that you’re here, I don’t know where to start.”

“I... missed... you... too...” She smiles sadly at Lexa.

Can... Can we start over?” Lexa asks softly.

Clarke looks away from forest green and whispers, “I’m... broken...”

Lexa gently moves Clarke’s face so that she is looking at her, “Let me fix you. No matter how broken you think you are, I want all of you because I...” She pauses, took a deep breath and stares deeply into baby blues. “Because I still love you.” Clarke’s eyes started pooling with tears. “I love you. Please allow me to fix you.” She then whispers pleadingly at the last part.

A tiny sob manages to escape from Clarke’s mouth, “S-scared...”

“I know but I’m here now. And I won’t leave you again. I promise.” Lexa leans her forehead against Clarke’s. By then tears are already falling from their eyes. “Love... you... too...” Clarke whispers while nodding her head. Lexa leans down and kisses Clarke gently.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Again read with caution. There's some beating scenes on here. Stay safe.

For a few months, Lexa helped Clarke get back on her feet. Lexa was patient and she spent her free time being by Clarke’s side. By the end of her second month of healing, Clarke was able to walk on her own and Lexa would give her a tour through the manor. She explains which hallway leads to where, what rooms are behind the closed doors, but Lexa also mentioned that it was never home to her. Clarke took this time to assess everything she can see. Cameras are everywhere. Only on certain spots that doesn’t reach the camera’s view. But above all, this place is secure. Some of her people still look at Clarke with disgust whenever she passes them but Clarke chose to ignore them. But still she couldn’t help but be wary of the people she sees.

Today she decided to get out of her room to sit and enjoy some fresh air at the back end of the manor. The place was quite reclusive and peaceful; just what Clarke wanted. Lexa was in an important meeting and so is Echo and Roan. So now she was alone and she hated being stuck in the bedroom. Her body was healing nicely but she still has some aches and soreness on her back and stomach. She was sitting in silence and as usual, her mind brought her back to the dark times. She was so lost in her thoughts that she fails to hear someone approaching her from behind. She was seated facing away from the back door to the manor anyway. And the next thing she knew, she was face down on the ground; the back of her head pulsing and her vision blurs. She rolls over facing the sky and could just make out the silhouette of three big burly men surrounding her. They were spitting words to her face but she couldn’t make out what they were saying. A few moments later, her vision and hearing started to clear up.

“Fucking Azgeda scum! You are not welcome here! Since Heda will not do what she must to filthy Azgeda like you, I’ll gladly do it for her and for my people!!” The middle man said while the other two snickers at the back. They then drag her away from the bench and they circles around her.

“Hey, Quint, maybe we should roughen her up before disposing her. What do you think? I do feel the need to punch something to blow of some steam.” One of the men said.

“Good idea Jox. What do you think Theo?” Quint said as he started laughing along with the other two. They started cracking their knuckles before moving closer to Clarke.

Quint grabs Clarke by her hair and punches her to the ground again. Then the rest joins in by kicking her all over her fallen body. Then Theo stood Clarke up as Quint and Jox took turns in punching Clarke. Quint then took out his pocket knife and started to cut off the front of Clarke’s t-shirt.

“Dude! Look at all the scars man. Nia must have hated her to inflict this kinda shit on her!” Jox exclaimed while the other two just nods and smiles.

“I guess I’ll be adding more to it then huh bitch?” Quint said.

He proceeded to cut all over her stomach and chest. Then finally stabs her to the side of her stomach. Clarke thought he’s either not wanting her to die so soon or he was dumb enough to stab her at a non-critical area. When Clarke didn’t even make a sound or flinch, he looked at her surprised. She guesses it’s the latter. She smirks and then spits the blood to his face and kicks him hard to his stomach; making him double over and falling back to the ground. She then head butt’s Theo behind her; stunning him then blocking the punch coming from Jox. She grabs Jox’s right arm and breaks it in three places. He started screaming in pain before kneeing him in his face, knocking him out. Theo recovers and chokes Clarke from behind but she elbows him to his stomach and when he loosens his hold on Clarke, she then elbows his nose breaking it. She then swipes his leg making him fall on his back before grabbing his right ankle and breaking it. She then punches him once to his face; knocking him out as well when he started screaming. Quint got up and rammed into Clarke’s side while she was standing over the unconscious Theo. He punches her over and over but Clarke manages grab hold of his left arm and manoeuvres herself around Quint and put him into an arm bar. She pulls it all the way back til it pops. He screams in agony before Clarke rammed her right leg to his face; knocking him out as well.

She soon heard footsteps coming closer to where she is as she let go of Quint’s arm. She didn’t make a move to get up; content to just lay there for a while; catching her breath. She was exhausted. She winced as she held on to her stab wound. She turns her head to concern green eyes when her vision starts to blur. Her adrenaline wearing off and she finally let the darkness come.

When she woke up next, she heard heated arguments outside her room. She slowly sat up and lean against the head board of the bed. Her head is still pounding so she took a breath and looks down and assesses herself and saw that she is just in her sports bra and jogger pants. There were bandages on her stomach and chest. Some of the wounds are left open and it doesn’t look so deep so she figures that the bandaged ones are deeper. And the one on her stab wound had little blood on it. Great, more scars to add to the collection. Her head is pulsing but tolerable. It’s not so bad.

She slowly swings her legs to the side of the bed and grabs the t-shirt that was left on the chair beside her bed. She puts it on and sat there on the bed with her right hand against her stab wound; lost in thought again as she hears the ongoing argument beyond her bedroom door.

5 minutes later her bedroom door burst open. Indra came in and started shouting at her. Clarke winced at the loud voice booming directly at her. Of all the things she can tolerate, screaming, loud voices directed to her she can’t. She remembered the times where Alti would shout at her when her head was pounding in pain and the shouts only aggravates the pain even more.

“HOW DARE YOU ATTACK MY PEOPLE!!” Indra’s voice boomed.

“Indra ENOUGH!” Lexa’s voice countered.

“How could you let her do this? Those are our people, Heda!”

“Don’t you think I don’t know that? Quint has always been sour since I ascend. And whatever choices I make, he always had something to say. And I’m sure Clarke didn’t attack those three men, twice her size might I add, for no reason. She’s still here; she didn’t try to run away. If she had something to hide, she wouldn’t have stayed. She’s been here for 3 and a half months and nothing happened, until now. So before you accuse her for something she probably didn’t do intentionally, Indra, THINK before you speak!” Lexa’s calm voice turns to irritation and cold.

Indra all but snapped her mouth shut. Lexa turns and looks at Clarke but she won’t make eye contact. And in the softest voice, she asks Clarke, “What happened?” Echo stood nearby and waited patiently as well but Indra was already seething.

_“Camera.”_ Clarke signs which Echo translate.

“The camera doesn’t show anything! Try again!” Indra raises her voice. Again Clarke winced. “Indra! Let her explain.” Lexa told Indra while glaring at her.

Clarke seems to take a while to answer because she realizes why Quint and his men drag her away from the bench that she was sitting at. There’s no camera facing the spot where they beat her up.

_“I sat at the bench where the camera was facing at 2 pm. Check it.”_ She signs and again Echo translates.

Lexa took out her phone and called Ryder and asks him to check the CCTV that was facing the bench at the back porch at 2 pm. 10 minutes later, Ryder called back. Putting it on speaker so Indra could hear as well, he told Lexa that Clarke was attacked by Quint before they pulled her away from the camera’s view. Once Lexa hung up the phone, her jaw was working and she had fire in her eyes. She glares at Indra who gulps and realizes that Clarke was telling the truth. 

“You still want to defend those idiots, Indra?” Lexa asks. But Indra just looks down in submission. “I don’t care if they’re in pain. I want them tied up in the basement. I’ll deal with them whenever.” Lexa orders Indra in her alarming calm voice. Indra didn’t argue, she just bowed and left the room.

Lexa moves and stands in front of Clarke but she still won’t make any eye contact. Lexa then knelt down to her eye level but Clarke was just staring right through her. “Clarke. I’m sorry for what my people did. They will pay for it I assure you.”

Clarke only nods and signs, _“I want to be left alone.”_ That Echo translates. If Clarke were to really look at Lexa, she would see how Lexa’s face fell.

“Alright, I’ll leave you to it.” Lexa whispers, stood up and lean down to press a gentle kiss to the crown of Clarke’s head before leaving the room. Echo moves and sit down on the chair beside the bed. She sat quietly and looks at Clarke, waiting for her to say something.

_“How long was I out?”_

“About an hour and a half. You need anything?” Clarke just shook her head no. “Alright, I’ll leave you now.” Clarke nods and signs a ‘thank you’ to Echo who nods her response before leaving the room.

Clarke sat there for another hour before she got up and slowly walk out of the room. The longer she sits in that room by herself, the deeper she will be in her thoughts. So she starts to wander around the big manor with no destination in mind. She was aimlessly walking and not really paying attention to her surroundings when a small figure bumps into her.

Clarke was broken out of her thoughts by the bump and wince. She then looks down at the little figure that she bumped into. It was a girl with big blue eyes. She had long brown wavy hair just like Lexa and she looks to be around 7 years old. She was looking up at Clarke with a surprised look on her round face. Slowly her face morphs to curiosity and soon her lips curls up to a smile.

“Hi, I’m Madi. Sorry to bump in to you.” Not long after she said that, a man who looks a little out of shape catches up to the little girl. He doubled over and tried to catch his breath.

“I’m sorry. She wasn’t supposed to wander by herself. She’s sneaky.” The man said breathlessly. “I’m Mac. And you must be the Azgeda the people around here are talking about.”

Clarke stiffens at that before the man apologizes. “My apologies. I didn’t mean for it to sound blunt but I trust Heda. If she trusts you, so do I.” He offered a smile. Clarke just nods in return before she looks down to Madi. She caresses the little girl’s hair and offers her a small smile. Little Madi decided to take a liking to Clarke, reaches out and held Clarke’s hand. Clarke was surprise at the gesture but quickly got use to it.

“What’s your name?” Madi asks but Clarke didn’t know how to reply her. She looks up to Mac and did a writing sign. Mac looks confuse at first but he reaches into his jacket pocket and offers Clarke his pen. She then wrote on her palm.

**_\- I’m Clarke and I can’t really speak._ **

“Why?” Madi asks curiously. Clarke just smiles and wrote on her palm again.

**_-Accident._ **

Clarke then showed Madi the scar on her throat. Madi gasp but Clarke just caresses her cheek and shook her head as in telling her that ‘it’s okay’. Clarke then looks to Mac and wrote on her palm to ask him if there’s any notepad around. He nods and told her that he will be back with it. Madi and Clarke waited for Mac to return with the notepad. When he did, Madi then drags Clarke by her hand to the garden outside. They found a place to sit and Madi started telling Clarke excitedly about herself. Mac stood nearby letting them have their moment.

“How did accident happen?” Madi asks suddenly, with an innocent look on her face that makes it hard to really lie.

**_\- Someone very bad broke it._ **

Madi’s brows furrowed and she looks to be seriously thinking which only looks adorable to Clarke. “You should tell Lexa. She can help you.”

**_\- Don’t worry. A friend already helped me._ **

A little white lie wouldn’t hurt so Clarke smiles at Madi who seems satisfied with the answer given to her. She then got up from her seat next to Clarke and moves to sit on Clarke’s lap. Clarke went stiff but when Madi looks to her with innocent eyes asking her whether it’s okay, she melted and put her right arm around the little girl’s waist holding her in place. Mac saw the bond between Clarke and Madi and he sneakily snap a photo of them. They sat in silent for a while before Madi said that it was dinner time and that she was hungry. She got off from Clarke’s lap and reaches out to grab Clarke’s hand and led her to the direction of the dining hall. Clarke has never been to the dining hall before. Normally Echo would bring her dinner to her room if she asks to.

When they step in, Lexa, Anya, Indra, Roan, Echo, Gustus and Lincoln are already there. All of them had their eyes on the two that just walked in. Clarke suddenly felt self conscious when every set of eyes were on them but Madi seems oblivious. She had a skip in her steps and continues to drag Clarke to the empty seat next to Lexa. 

“O-oh. There’s only one left. It’s okay, you sit.” Madi pulls Clarke to sit at the empty seat and then she moves and climbs up to Clarke’s lap and sat on it. “There. We share.” She said with a bright smile plastered on her face. She swings her legs back and forth while waiting for dinner to be served.

Clarke chances a look on Lexa’s face and she had her mouth slightly parted while looking at the interaction between Clarke and Madi. She clears her throat before asking. “Uh, how did you meet Clarke, sweetie?”

Madi hesitated a bit before she decided to answer truthfully. “I accidently run into her.” Madi said sheepishly.

“And what were you doing running around?” Lexa asks with her brows raised.

“I was bored.” She shrugged.

“I told you I don’t want you wandering around by yourself. That’s why Mac is with you. Ask him if you want to go somewhere around the manor and he will bring you. Understood?” Madi nods her understanding.

“Sorry about her. She’s my sister. Well... half sister; same father. Her mother died when she was born and my father got custody. Since he passed, well... now I have her. Hope she didn’t drive you crazy.” Lexa said teasingly.

Clarke smiles at Lexa before shaking her head ‘no’. When dinner was served, Lexa told the server to serve another plate for Clarke. While waiting, Clarke helped Madi cut up her food and help feed her. And when Clarke’s plate soon came, she alternate with feeding Madi and eating hers. Lexa tried to help but Clarke smiled politely while shaking her head as in telling her that ‘it’s okay I got this’. Clarke would play with Madi when she directs the spoon to her mouth only for her to move it away when Madi lean in with an open mouth. It earns a laugh from the little girl and smiles from everyone else. Lexa looks on with adoration at the two. She couldn’t get over how easy it is for Madi to get use to Clarke. 

When everyone was done eating, they talked amongst themselves but Clarke chooses to focus her attention on Madi instead. The little brunette was excitedly telling her a story she made up about a princess from the sky that fell in love with a warrior on the ground. Clarke listens tentatively to it and smiles at the excitement showing in the little girl’s eyes. Lexa looks over to Clarke and Madi once in a while and saw how animated Madi is while telling Clarke one of her story. She felt warmth in her heart at seeing how attentive Clarke is being towards her little sister.

A little while later, Madi’s eyes started to droop. Clarke leans in to her ear and whispered hoarsely, “Sleepy?”

Madi’s droopy eyes turn wide and she turns and stares at Clarke. “You can talk?” Clarke’s reply was she made a ‘small’ gesture with her pointer finger and thumb to Madi.

She then wrote, **_\- I can speak for short words but it is painful for me._** She then showed it to Madi.

“Oh. I wish you can speak. I like your voice.” Madi said honestly. “Can you tuck me in?” Clarke just nods to her. Clarke then picks Madi up and carries her out of the dining room. Mac was outside waiting when Clarke steps out. Lexa saw Clarke leaving and decided to follow.

“I’ll take both of them to Madi’s room. You can go home now. See you tomorrow.” Lexa told Mac.

“Thank you Heda.” He said as he bowed and took his leave.

Lexa then turns to Clarke and directs her to Madi’s room. Lexa saw how Madi was practically asleep with her head resting on Clarke’s shoulder. She then decides to break the silence. “I’ve never seen Madi open up to someone new so fast.” Clarke just raises her eyebrows as in asking, ‘really?’

“Yeah. As you can see that everyone here are adults. ‘Big scary people’ were her words.” Lexa points with her face to the sleeping girl. “And she’s wary of the people here. Mac is the only decent looking guy there is. That’s why I hired him as her ‘nanny’ of sorts.”

“She must have seen something in you to make her like this with you.” Lexa smiles at Clarke who returns her with a smirk.

“Sorry I didn’t tell you about her sooner. I didn’t know how you would react and besides, she’s quite a handful.” Lexa added. Clarke gave her a gentle smile, “It’s... fine...” She whispers.

Once they reached Madi’s room, Lexa opens the door for Clarke to step in and put Madi to bed. She gently lays the girl on her bed and moves to take off her shoes. She then pulls the comforter over the little body and leans down to kiss the girl’s forehead. Lexa was leaning against the door frame; arms cross with a soft smile on her face as she looks on at how gentle and loving Clarke is.

“Mmm night, mama...” The little girl mumbles. Clarke stops in her tracks and turns to look at the sleeping girl and then to Lexa; both of them clearly surprised by the admission. Clarke walks out of the room and silently closes Madi’s door and stood facing Lexa outside of the room with a small frown.

“Uhmm. That’s... uh... She never before...” Lexa is lost for words. Clarke took the notepad and wrote on it before showing it to Lexa.

**_\- It’s fine. Maybe she didn’t mean to say it. Even if she did, I don’t mind. She’s kinda growing on me._ **

Lexa looks up to Clarke who had a small smile on her face. “Let me walk you back to your room.” Lexa offers that Clarke gladly accepts. Lexa reach down and held Clarke’s hand which she allows and they walk together in a comfortable silent.

After kissing each other goodnight, that night like most nights, Clarke couldn’t seem to get some sleep. Her thoughts just wouldn’t stop playing the images of pain and suffering. And so after a few hours of no sleep, she gave up trying and decided to get up and go to the gym. As she was walking through the hallways, something felt off, somehow. The manor seemed quiet. Lexa did mention to her that there would be guards walking about the manor at night. But this night, she didn’t find a single guard around. So she stealthily goes about the manor to try and figure out what’s going on. As she turns a corner, she saw two men she recognizes as Azgeda walking side by side towards the other way, with their backs turn on her. She realizes that Madi’s room is at the end of the hallway. So she quietly catches up to the both of them and jumped on their backs while grabbing their heads by their chins and snapping both of it at the same time. She then drags their bodies to the nearest closet and stuffs them in.

She quickly went into Madi’s room and woke her up. “Huh...wha... Clarke?” Madi sat up and rubs the sleep off her eyes. “What’s going on?”

Clarke brought her pointer finger to her lips, indicating for Madi to be quiet. The little girl’s eyes were wide awake now. And so Clarke carried Madi and peek out through the gaps of the door to see if it’s clear to leave. When it is, she made a run towards Lexa’s room. As she was about to open the door to Lexa’s room, another two Azgeda men turn the corner from her left. They saw her and took out their handguns and started firing. She nearly got in safely but a bullet manages to pierce her left shoulder blade.

“What’s going on?!” Lexa woke up with a start as soon as Clarke enters with a crying Madi.

“Azgeda...” Clarke said as loudly as she could. She closes and locks the door before putting Madi on the ground on the other side of the bed away from the door and pulls Lexa down. Madi automatically launches her tiny body to Lexa and hugs her tight. Clarke points to Madi and then gesture for Lexa to cover the little girl’s eyes which Lexa did by hiding Madi’s face in her neck. She then whispers sweet nothings in Madi’s ear to get her to concentrate on her voice.

Just then the door was kicked open and Clarke didn’t waste any time by jumping over the bed and did a superman punch on the first guy. He fell to the floor grunting while holding his broken nose when the second guy pointed his gun on Clarke. She trapped his arm that’s holding the gun to her side and aims the gun to the first guy and pulls the trigger a couple of times; killing him. The second guy’s arm is still trap when she grabbed his wrist with her left hand and raises his arm to her shoulder and breaking it. The gun fell out from his grip and on to the floor as he screams out in pain. He falls to his knees holding his broken elbow. She then turns and faces him and grabs his head and twists it with a crack. His scream quietens in an instant.

Clarke turns around and saw how Lexa was staring in shock. She then looks away from Lexa when Anya appears at the open bedroom door and saw two dead Azgeda men on the floor. While Anya was making sure that Lexa and Madi was alright, Clarke peeks out to see if there were any more coming.

“What the hell is going on?!” Lexa asks Anya.

“I don’t know, I heard gunshots and quickly ran here. But on my way here I met up with Indra and Gustus who are trying to find out what happened as we speak. I came across one Azgeda and took care of him.”

“How the f... did they infiltrate my manor? Urgh... Okay, alright uh... Let’s find a way out of here first.” Anya nods and took Madi from Lexa’s arms. Lexa took her gun that she kept in her bedside drawer and went and stood behind Clarke waiting to see if it’s clear. Lexa notices the bullet wound on Clarke’s shoulder blade.

“You’re hit Clarke!” Lexa whispers shout. Clarke turns to look at Lexa’s worried face and said, “I’m... fine.” She palms Lexa’s left cheek and offers her a small smile. She leans in a kisses Lexa’s lips and then gestures her to be quiet.

Just then, more shots could be heard. When the coast was clear, Lexa led them to the safe room for Madi. Once they got there, Lexa instructs Anya to stay with Madi. Anya looks like she’s going to protest but kept it to herself. Madi started crying when she saw that Lexa and Clarke were leaving the room so Lexa tried to calm her down. When she couldn’t, Clarke kneels down to the crying girl.

“Shhhh... We’ll... come... back... for... you... Be... brave...” Clarke said softly to the still crying girl’s ear. Her wailing turns to quiet sobs and then to sniffles. She rubs her eyes before tightening the hug to Clarke. Lexa was kneeling beside Clarke and still it amazes her how Clarke is able to calm her little sister down. 

“You promise you come back?” Madi asks.

“We... promise.” Clarke replies. Madi then jumps to Lexa’s arms and hug her tight. “We promise, we’ll come back for you Madi. I love you.” Lexa said softly to her little sister.

“I love you too. And you Clarke.” Madi said to Lexa before turning to Clarke at the last part. Clarke raise her left thumb, index and pinky finger and mouths ‘I love you’ to Madi. She smiles and did it back to Clarke in return.

“You stay with her no matter what okay?” Lexa told Anya who only nods. “Promise me.”

“I promise I’ll stay with her no matter what. Be safe out there alright. I don’t wanna lose you.” Anya said as she stood and hug her cousin.

“You won’t.” Clarke saw the exchange and vows to herself that she will keep Lexa safe at all cost. And with that both of them left the safe room and follow the sound of gunshots happening somewhere around the manor.

While running towards the chaos, they ran into Echo. Like everybody else, Echo doesn’t know how this happen. She then gives Clarke one of the handguns she manages to snatch from the Azgeda that she had got rid of along the way. They started firing at the enemy along the way and they ended up in the living room. But as they were about to turn the corner to the living room, Clarke saw that one of the Azgeda men was already pointing his gun and started shooting at their general direction. Clarke was quick to push Lexa down to the ground and shot at the assailant. But still the bullet manages to graze Lexa’s right shoulder. It didn’t bother her though, she just steadies herself and stood up from the floor and started shooting at the enemy. Some came from behind them that Lexa easily fought with her bare hands. It surprises Clarke but then again, she is the Commander.

And once they were all neutralized, Clarke found one still alive; hiding. He looks like he had been shot twice in the right shoulder. Upon closer inspection, Clarke recognizes him as one of the men who tied her up to the pole, the night Lexa rescued her.

She crouches before him and as he laid his sight on her, he smiles at her. “There you are... Nia would be so happy.” He said as he shakily pointed to the lapel of his jacket. “Smile...” There on it was a tiny camera attached to it. From a far it looks like a normal button. Clarke’s eyes went wide for a millisecond but then she schools her face back to neutral. She guesses there’s no point panicking since now Nia knows every inch of this manor and that her prized fighter is still alive in enemy territory.

“She’ll be coming for you soon...” He said to her like he thought that Clarke would just put him out of his misery. Without giving him the satisfaction of killing him, she reached out and took the camera off of his jacket. She then stares at it for a moment and then crushes it with the butt of her handgun.

She then analyzes the guy in front of her who still had a smile on his face before grabbing his right arm and pulling him out of his hiding spot and towards Lexa and the others. He grunts in pain the whole time he was being pulled.

Dropping him in front of Lexa, she signed to Echo for her to translate. _“They all had a camera attached to their jackets. Nia probably already know the insides of this manor. As for him, we could try and get answers out of him.”_ After Echo translates it, Lexa agreed.

“Gustus... check him first and tie him up in the basement and make sure he can’t escape.” Lexa ordered. Gustus bowed and pulls him away to the basement as he grunts from being pulled by his injured side.

“Indra, I need this place clean up and make sure to destroy all of the cameras on them and check their corpses for anything else they might be hiding. Then I want this place check out for any deficiencies. And get extra guards and post them around the manor.”

“Yes, Heda.” Indra bowed and went on to do what she was ordered to.

“Echo, Roan, I’m sure you can find out ways to figure out how Nia infiltrate my manor. You may begin tomorrow. Since they have cameras, I’m guessing Nia already knows of you two’s involvement with me so you have to be discreet about it. But for right now, you may help Indra.”

‘We’ll see what we can do.” Roan replies. “Are you two okay?” Echo asks.

_“We’re okay.”_ Clarke signs. Echo gave a small smile. And with that, both Roan and Echo went off to find and help Indra.

Lexa then turn to Clarke, “Are you okay?” Clarke only nods but Lexa worriedly tries to turn Clarke so that she can have a look at Clarke’s injured shoulder blades. But Clarke just grabs Lexa’s hands and held them in between them, “I’m... fine... I... promise...” With a relief sigh, Lexa only nods her head. “Let’s... get... Madi.”

They walked together to the safe room and once they’re there, Lexa told Anya to help out Indra and told her to get Nyko to her room as soon as possible. Both Clarke and Lexa brought Madi back to Lexa’s room to wait for Nyko’s arrival. Some time while waiting, Madi fell asleep on Lexa. Not long after, Nyko arrived and patched up both Clarke and Lexa. Lexa’s graze wasn’t so bad, just needed to clean it and wrap it while Clarke’s wound needed stitching... again. Once Nyko was done with them, he did a check on Madi who luckily wasn’t hurt or bruise in any way; she was just exhausted. Nyko left as soon as he was done.

Clarke was about to get up and go to her room when Lexa held on to her wrist; stopping her. “Stay.” Clarke turns her wrist over and held Lexa’s hand. She gave a gentle nod and a small smile before leaning in and capturing Lexa’s lips with hers. They then moved Madi under the covers and they got in next. Clarke’s laying on the right side of the bed while Lexa lays her head on her chest on her left and Madi’s behind Lexa.

“I love you.” Lexa whispers.

Clarke turns her head and kisses Lexa’s forehead before exhaustion finally catches up to her. 

~~

A couple of hours later and Clarke is already awake. It might seem like a small amount of time to get a good night’s rest but she was ‘trained’ that way. No matter how tired or exhausted she was, she always manages a couple of hours sleep. So now here she is, lying in bed with Lexa and Madi. While they were still sounding asleep, she’s just laying there staring blankly at the ceiling above. Sometimes she wonders whether she would be ‘normal’ after everything. She doesn’t sleep well, she doesn’t speak... much and when she had time for herself, she would stare blankly at nothing and just spaced out. Her memory doesn’t stop and she’s always reliving the pain over and over. At least now, she got used to it. But it doesn’t mean that she doesn’t get tired of it. She knows that the bags under her eyes are easily visible and she knows that she looks sickly. Maybe she is, maybe she’s not. But that’s just how she is right now; a broken shell of a person she used to be. 

She turns her head towards the night stand; the digital clock sitting there reads 4:38 am. With a sigh, she got up slowly from the bed, trying not to jostle too much. As she stood by the bed, she looks down on the sleeping sisters. She leans down and kisses both their forehead before leaving the room. She decided to go down to the basement to have a chat with the Azgeda guy. As she approaches the door leading down to the basement, Gustus was standing guard by the door. 

“I... need... to speak... to him...” She asks but Gustus just looks at her; emotionless. “Give... me... 10... minutes... please...” Gustus took a moment but relents, “Alright. 10 minutes.” He said in his gruffly voice. Clarke nods her thanks before making her way down.

The guy was tied to a chair in the middle of the basement. At the corner there’s Quint and his two goons who are still tied up and from the looks of it, they were beaten pretty badly. Back to the Azgeda, his hands are tied behind him while the ropes are attached to his ankles. It looks uncomfortable. As soon as he heard someone coming down the steps, he looks up. What he saw made him smile.

“Look who it is. The great Wanheda.” He chuckles.

“How did... you manage... to... infiltrate... the manor?”

“Hmm. Straight to the point I see. What makes you think I’ll talk?” He counters with a smug smile on his face. But right now, she really needs to know what Nia wanted. And she doesn’t have the patience. So she inserts her pointer and middle finger in the bullet wound on his shoulder and pulls down on it; earning a scream from him.

“Nia did... worse... to me... to make me... scream like you... You’re soft...” She then leans closer, “I’ll ask... again... How... did you... manage... to... infiltrate... the manor?”

He stayed quiet, breathing hard and glaring at her. When Clarke pushes her fingers deeper he grunts but chooses to remain quiet. Lucky for her there were two knives left on the nearby table. She grabs it and stuck both of it in his thighs at the same time. He screams but still he won’t speak. She took it both out and stabs again. His screams turn to groans but he still won’t say anything.

She moves to untie him but then moves to tie his hands to the arms of the chair and started breaking his fingers one at a time. His screams got louder when she decided to tell him about herself. “Nia... tortured me... for a year... until... I learned... to not scream...” She pauses. Her throat burns from talking too much but she has to. “All this... that I’m doing... are not... the worse... she has... done to me... but yet... your screams... are worse... than mine...” She then proceeded to tear off his shirt and pulls out the knife stuck on his right thigh and started carving randomly on his chest for a while before he finally gave in.

“Okay... I’ll- I’ll tell you e-everything... Just... p-please... s-stop.” He shakily speaks. When he was about to speak, Clarke told him to wait before she went up the stairs and call upon Gustus to be the witness to his confession. When Gustus stood before him beside Clarke, (he was surprise at what Clarke did but he doesn’t show) the man started to speak. “Q-Quint is the m-mole.” He begins. Gustus growls before looking back at the limp body hanging against the wall behind him.

“H-he told us e-everything from your gun power to h-how m-many men that this m-manor has. H-he gave us the c-codes to the gates and to ev-everything else in this p-place. H-he also told us w-which crew are on Heda’s side and Nia wanted H-Heda dead so she c-could rule the co-coalition. And by that, she’ll s-start with des-destroying the leaders of the c-crew that are on H-Heda’s side first; to w-weaken h-her forces. T-That’s all I kn-know, I s-swear.”

“I have to tell Heda.” Gustus said in a panic. Before he could walk away, Clarke held back his right arm; stopping him.

“Let... Heda rest... She needs... her strength... besides, Madi’s... with her... Please.” Clarke pleads softly. Gustus’ stare soften and he nods slightly at Clarke. “I’ll tell... her first... thing... when she wakes...” Clarke offers that Gustus accepts.

“Thank... you...” Clarke whispers. With a nod, Gustus went back upstairs to guard the door. Once the basement door closes, Clarke looks down to the man.

“I know... that’s... not all... What... else?”

“S-Some of her m-men are outside a-around the m-manor w-waiting for you. S-surrender y-yourself in 24 hours or th-they’ll in-filtrate again with a... big-ger f-force. Y-You can’t w-win this t-time.” Clarke’s eyes widen at that.

“How can I... trust Nia... if I... surrender... myself?”

“Y-You don’t.” The man claims tiredly. Clarke stabs the knife that she used for carving his chest to his injured shoulder. He grunts loudly before said her final words to him.

“Heda... won’t... have mercy... on you... I promise...” Clarke whispered in his ears while he’s still grunting in pain. She then punches the lights out of him before going up the steps two at a time. She met Gustus at the top and nods politely to him before making her way to Lexa’s room.

When she steps foot in the bedroom, Lexa and Madi are still asleep. She quietly made her way to the en-suite bathroom and washes the blood away from her hands before climbing into bed again. As she got in the bed, Lexa turns over and put her left arm across Clarke’s stomach; cuddling her side and laid her head on Clarke’s chest. Clarke moved her left arm so that she had it around Lexa’s shoulder.

“Where did you go?” Came Lexa’s mumbled voice.

“Walk... Can’t... sleep...” Clarke whispers hoarsely. Lexa picked up her head and look down on Clarke’s face who is staring at the ceiling; unblinking. Even when Lexa is analyzing her, she still kept on looking straight ahead.

“What’s on your mind?” Lexa gently asks.

“Too... much...”

“Tell me.” That got Clarke’s attention. She turns her head and faces Lexa’s worried expression. “I want to know what happened to you. I want to understand. I don’t want you to be alone anymore.” Lexa whispers sincerely.

“It’s not... pretty...”

“I don’t care.” Clarke took a moment to think of what to tell her. There’s just so much. She didn’t want to tell Lexa of the gory details but... all of her thoughts involved the gory details.

“I packed... my bag... and left once... I graduate... and moved to... Polis... Worked at a bar... go to gym after... and go home; like clockwork... every day... Was training... when Roan, the owner... decided... to train me... Nia saw me... with him... one day... and recruited me...” She pauses and took a breath as she turns her head away from Lexa and continues to stare at the ceiling.

“She brought... me somewhere... and got... started straight... away... Alti, the woman... who whipped me, she’s my... torturer... They did... a lot of things.... If you... scream, they extend... the pain... You... must learn... to not scream...” She swallows before adding. “They brand... you with... hot poker... Slash you, stab you... at the... non-critical... areas, beat you... badly, toss you... around while... in pain, and break... bones... They... lock you... in a cold... cell with only... a thin... layer of clothing... Mashed up... goo... for a meal... a day... A bucket... for relief... Ice cold... water... dumped... on me... as bath...They woke me... after only... an hour or two... of sleep... and repeat...” She pauses again. “Nia said... I wouldn’t... forget it... She’s right...”

Somewhere along the story, Lexa laid her head back down on Clarke’s chest. Lexa was quietly letting her tears fall as she held onto Clarke a little tighter. When it looked like she was not going to say anything more, Lexa quietly asks.

“For how long?”

“A year... After that... one year... she made... me fight... while I was... still in pain... Opponent? Big... seasoned... fighter... I won... of course...” Clarke smirked at that last statement.

Lexa let out a soft chuckle. “Echo told me about that. That’s how she became your friend.” Clarke gave a slight nod. They were quiet for a while when Clarke decided to tell Lexa about the interrogation she did earlier.

“I talked... to the Azgeda... earlier... He confesses... everything to... Gustus and I...” Lexa raised her head and stared at Clarke.

“What did he say?”

With a sigh, “Quint’s... the mole... He told... them everything... about you... He was the one... who gave... them the... codes to the... gates... The crews... that are... on your side... Nia will... go after... their leaders... first...”

Lexa sat up with a groan. “That worthless piece of... I’m gonna kill him.” Clarke sat up as well and held onto Lexa’s hands. She rubs the back of Lexa’s hands gently with her thumbs; calming her.

Clarke stares into Lexa’s eyes wondering how she’s going to break the news to Lexa about Nia wanting her back. Lexa will definitely not let her go. But in order to save her and this place, that happens to have a 7 year old innocent girl living in it, she has to do what Nia wanted.

“That’s not all is it?” Lexa asks hesitantly. Clarke only shook her head with a solemn look on her face. “What else does she want?” Clarke didn’t know how to answer her so she looked away.

Realizing the answer to that Lexa started shaking her head. “No. She can’t have you. No. I won’t let her.” Clarke squeezed her hands gently to get her attention.

“She... will come... back with more... if I... don’t go... You can’t win... love...”

“But I just got you back.”

“Let her... have me...” Lexa is already shaking her head vigorously. “Unite... the others... on your side... and fight...” Clarke raises her right hand and palmed Lexa’s left cheek. “You have... to do this... for your people... For Madi...”

“I don’t wanna lose you.” Lexa said defeatedly.

Clarke sighs and lays back down, pulling Lexa with her. They both laid there in each other’s embrace; comforting each other. Both dreading what was coming soon.

Clarke and Lexa spent the majority of their day together. Lexa begged Clarke to stay until she figured something out but Clarke told her of the 24 hour deadline. Lexa felt desperate at that revelation and so she called upon the crew leaders that are on her side for an urgent meeting. She has been in that meeting for an hour now and it’s close to 8 pm right now and Clarke is getting restless. But then the 7 year old Madi innocently came bounding to her, calming her down instantaneously.

“Shouldn’t... you be... in bed soon...?” Clarke whispers to Madi.

“Can’t sleep.” Clarke just gave a kiss to the side of Madi’s head.

So here she is in the lounging area with Madi on her lap, who is close to nodding off with her teddy bear in her arms while Clarke held the little girl snugly to her. Somehow the little girl knows when situations are intense at the moment because she seems to be in a sombre mood as well.

“Never peg you for a kid magnet.” Echo’s voice came as soon as she steps into the lounging area. Madi’s wide awake at the sudden voice and looks up at Echo.

“She’s... my little... warrior...” Clarke kisses Madi on the side of her head and then gave a smirk to her friend. Echo let out a soft chuckle. “Madi, this is... my friend... Echo...” She introduces softly to Madi.

“Hi, Madi.” Echo offers a tiny wave and a smile but Madi hides her face in the crook of Clarke’s neck.

“Shy now... are we...?” Clarke smiles and whispers to Madi but Madi just hide her face further. Clarke rubs her back in a comforting motion.

“Heard about what Nia wanted. You sure you wanna go through that? We could plan something. You don’t have to go back there.” Echo asks but pleads at the last part.

_“If I had a choice, I wouldn’t. But this little girl is innocent and to know that she is related to the woman I care for? I would go to hell if that would keep them safe.”_ Clarke signs to Echo. _“I can handle the punishment before, I can do it again.”_

“Still, she’ll probably do worse this time. I hate this. I really do.” Echo sighs. They were quiet for a couple of minutes when Echo decided to ask. “You never told me about you and Lexa.”

Clarke sighs before she started signing. _“I owe you that.”_ She smirks that Echo returns.

“I had... only my dad... growing up... Mom is... basically... non-existed... Dad died... when I was... 12... I was... subjected... to bullying... throughout... school... Met Lexa my... sophomore... year... She was a... repeated... senior... She... saved me... from getting... beat up... one day... She’s... persistent... when it... comes to... getting... to know me... I gave in... Fell in love... Dated... for a year... when she... ended... things... with a... message... one night... Told me... not to... find her... and that to... give her a... chance to... explain her...self if... ever we ran... into each... other again...” Clarke explains.

“Turns out... her father... knows... of me... and her and... threatens... to...” She pauses and looks down, thankfully Madi’s already asleep. But she still signed the last part anyway. _“Kill me.”_

Echo took a moment to process it. “She tried... to find... me after... she... ascends but... I already left... So here... we are now...” Clarke added.

“You love her?” Echo finally asks.

_“Still do.”_ Clarke signs instead.

“Then I will protect them with my life. I promise you that.” Echo offers that got Clarke tearing up. “You are not alone anymore. So please stay alive will ya? I don’t wanna have to kill you if you decided to die on us.” That got a wet chuckle out of Clarke. Echo smiles and reaches for Clarke’s hand and squeezes it.

Suddenly there were gunshots firing outside the manor. Nia’s early; should have known. Clarke quickly got up and ran to the safe room for Madi and told her to stay put. Madi didn’t make it difficult this time only that she made Clarke promise to come back for her. When Clarke was running back towards the lounging area, she met up with Lexa, Echo, Roan, Anya, Indra and Gustus. The crew leaders step out of the manor ready to defend with the remaining guards outside. The gunshot outside stops abruptly and Nia’s voice can be heard at the front of the manor.

“Your guards are outnumbered Lexa! Give me Wanheda and we’ll let you live tonight, simple!” Nia shouted. “You have 10 minutes to decided! Tick tock!!”

“I have... to go.” Clarke told Lexa sadly.

“No Clarke. There must be another way.” Lexa pleaded.

“You know... as much as... I do, there... isn’t love...” Clarke told her. “Live today... fight... another day...” At that moment, Lexa has never felt so defeated.

Clarke leans her forehead to Lexa’s and they breathe each other in. “May... we meet... again...” The rest of them witness the love and care shared between their Heda and Wanheda. And right now, it’s the least of their worries.

Clarke slowly lets go of Lexa and looks towards Echo, _“Take care of them.”_ Clarke signs.

_“I will, I promise. Stay alive.”_ Echo signs back that Clarke nodded to.

All of them walk with Clarke out of the manor together. Lexa held Clarke’s hand and squeezes it; whispering ‘I love you’ to her before letting go. Clarke turns and gave a teary smile while showing an ‘I love you’ sign with her hand.

She turns around and held her hands up and walks carefully towards Nia; who had a satisfied smile on her face. As soon as she got closer, Nia shot Clarke above her right knee. She fell to the ground and instantly grabs her injured leg; writhing in pain.

“See Lexa, she didn’t even make a sound.” Nia told Lexa smugly. She looks down on Clarke before looking at Lexa again, “Love is weakness Lexa. Remember what your father taught you?”

Lexa realizes that Nia knew all along and tries to move forward but Clarke made a ‘no’ sign that got Echo holding Lexa back. With a nod, one of Nia’s men came forward and hit Clarke to her temple with the butt of his gun; knocking her out. He then tied a piece of cloth to the injured leg so that she doesn’t bleed out.

“Wouldn’t want her dying on me just yet, you know.” Nia added. Then the guy picked Clarke up and tosses her into the SUV behind them.

Nia then turns and walks closer to Lexa, “I knew about you and her since your father used to work with me. The people that are on my side knew too. Even when you brought your father to justice, they didn’t care because they’re already working _for_ me. Soon I’ll destroy your side and take ownership of your turfs and those who sides with you and I will be the _queen_ of the 12 crews.” She claims smugly before she added, “The great commander, powerless, all because of love. Tsk tsk. You’re weak. I’m going to break your precious Clarke until there’s nothing left to break. And then I’m gonna kill you; including my son and Echo!!” Nia pauses. “Or... you could just give in and bow to me and save all this bloodshed.” Nia added nonchalantly.

“Nothing is ever going to make me bow down to you. I swear, I’m gonna kill you and I’m going to enjoy it.” Lexa replies calmly. But with fire in her eyes, Nia knows that Lexa meant business. Nia gulps but mask her nervousness with smugness.

“Well suit yourself.” Nia said chuckling and waving her fingers to Lexa as she got in her car and rode off with the rest of her people following behind.

Lexa watches them go and with determination in her eyes, “Get ready for retaliation.” Lexa said lowly. All of them bow to Lexa and went in to the meeting room to begin planning. Lexa and Echo are the only ones left outside.

“What can I do Heda?” Echo asks gently.

"Do you have any idea of where they’re taking her?”

“I have a few but I doubt it’s in any one of those places since I know about most of them.”

Lexa turns to Echo, “List them all and we go from there.”

“Yes Heda.” Echo went straight to the meeting room while Lexa went to the safe room. She opens it to Madi looking small and scared. The moment she saw Lexa, she lunges into her sister’s arms.

“Where’s Clarke?” Madi asks the moment she lifts her head off her sister’s shoulder and saw no Clarke. Tears were already pooling in Lexa’s eyes when she looks to her little sister and told her that the bad people took her. Madi started sobbing and Lexa kept apologizing for not doing more.

Lexa then carried Madi and walk them to her room. She then settles on the bed with Madi still clinging to her who is still quietly sobbing. Lexa whispers a promise to Madi that she will get Clarke back no matter what it takes. Soon Madi fell asleep; exhausted from crying and Lexa laid there thinking of ways to kill Nia.

Once she saw Madi in deep sleep, she kisses Madi on her forehead and carefully got out of the bed and walk out of her bedroom. She saw two of her men and told them to guard her room and call upon Mac to take their place as soon as he arrives. They bowed their heads to her and she made her way to the basement.

Gustus is still guarding the basement door when she arrived. He bowed and opens the door for her. He followed her down and soon came to stand in front of the Azgeda guy. Clarke really did a number on him. The guy was awake and slowly looked up to Lexa. She stood straight with her hands behind her back and her movement showed that she is not to be mess with.

“Anything else you wish to admit to me?” Calmly she asks.

The guy had fear in his eyes. And he remembered what Clarke told him about Lexa not giving him mercy. “Look... W-Whatever I t-told Wan-Wanheda and him...” He pauses and directs his face to Gustus. “t-that’s all I-I know. I s-swear.”

“Do you have any idea of where Nia might take Wanheda?”

“T-there is a place f-further north of where her manor stood; heavily guarded. I have never been there be-before so I-I’m not sure where exactly. I think s-she might take Wanheda there.” He said shakily and gulps.

“Anything else?” Lexa asks calmly.

“N-no...” He shakily answers.

Lexa turns to Gustus, “I think you need training. Send someone to help you with it.”

“With pleasure Heda.”

“Heda, please!” He started pleading but Lexa just walks away from him. She then grabs Gustus’ gun from the back of his waist line and walks towards Quint and the other two men.

“H-heda pl-please.” Quint tries.

“I told you, harm her and you get a bullet through your brain.” She raises the gun and shot one to him and one each to his two buddies before they can start pleading. 

She turns around to Gustus tying the Azgeda like a punching bag while the man was whimpering and groaning in pain. She gave the gun back to Gustus. “Get someone to take out the trash and then meet me once you’re done with him.” Gustus bows and did what he was told. 

_ In The Meeting Room  _

__

The room went silent the moment Lexa steps in. She went straight to the head of the table with her head held high. She took a moment to look at each and every one of them before she began.

“As you all know, yes, Clarke, better known as Wanheda is very close and personal to me. You all heard it yourself what Nia actually wanted. And so it’s time to retaliate. I want all of your people to be prepared.” Lexa began.

“So how are we going to do this?” Anya asks.

“I was told by the Azgeda we captured that Nia has a place further north of where her manor is.” She turns to Roan and Echo. “Any ideas of where that might be?”

“Yes. But that place will be heavily guarded.” Roan replies.

“So I’ve been told.”

Roan then step forth to the map on the table and pointed to where the place is. He started explaining about the place and what to expect once they get there. The place has an open area of about a mile so there won’t be any covers once they step out of the tree line. In other words they will see them coming. The back part of the place is the ocean. They did a lot of planning and looking from all angles, there still isn’t any way to attack without alerting the rest of them. So they all agree to just drive in and attack head on. They also needed to keep a look out for snipers. Nia always has them wherever she goes.

“Nia only has 4 crews with her. You have 7. The odds are in your favour Heda.” One of the leaders pointed out.

“I know. But I still worry. Besides, I have 6 including mine; not 7. Luna and the Water Side crew would rather stay away from crew wars...” Lexa trails off and pauses. She looks at the time and it’s already pass midnight. “You know what? Proceed on plan and be ready with your people in a couple of hours at Nia’s hide out. Spread yourselves around the perimeter beyond the tree line. All of you connect to the same radio channel and wait for my command. Understood?”

“Yes Heda.” They said in unison.

“Dismissed.” They all stood and bowed before they took their leave.

Roan, Echo, Indra and Anya were the only ones left in the room. “Indra, fetch Gustus for me.” Indra nods and went off in search for Gustus.

“I’m going to meet Luna. I want you to come with me.” Lexa told Anya.

“What about Madi?” Anya asks. And before Lexa could reply, Echo beats her to it. “I’ll stay with her.” Anya and Lexa both look surprise at the offer.

“Besides, you need every available man to assist you.” Echo added. “Clarke made me promise to look after you and Madi, Heda. Since you have Anya by your side when you’re out there, I’ll protect Madi here.”

Lexa felt relief about it somehow. “Very well, keep her safe please. And thank you Echo.” Echo only nods her head and went off towards Madi’s room.

Once Echo steps out, Gustus came in with Indra. “Gustus, prepare the car. We’re going to see Luna.” Gustus bowed and went out of the room to prepare the car.

“Indra, gather the men and brief them. And make sure they’re loaded up and ready. Proceed to meeting point once they are set.” Indra bowed and left to gather the men.

“Roan, you’re with us. Let’s go meet Luna. 

~~

It’s 1. 25 am and Lexa, Anya, Roan and Gustus are in the car driving towards the Water Side crew’s territory. Luna is their leader and never involves herself with other crews. She only does business with the others if it benefits her people. Ever since Lexa ascend, they have a mutual understanding. Luna even praise that Lexa was better than her father. Lexa even made sure that no one bothers Luna and her people. Whenever the other crew wants to do business with Luna, Lexa will see to it first if it’s worthy enough for Luna before calling her. Lexa just hopes that this situation is reason enough for Luna to help her.

Once they reached outside the gates of Water Side, a guard asks Gustus through the open window of their business here. Lexa rolls down her side window and showed herself to the guard. The guard’s eyes widen at seeing her; he quickly radioed in announcing the arrival of the Commander before opening the gates for them.

Luna and a few of her men step out of the building and greeted them.

“Commander.” Luna and her men bowed in respect.

“Luna. I need your help.”

“Let’s talk in my office.” Luna offers then led Lexa to her office. Lexa told the rest to stay outside once they reached the office.

Once they were seated, Luna asks. “What’s going on?”

“Nia. She has declared war on me. 4 of the other leaders have sided with her from the time of my father.”

“Even if she is 5 crew total, you have 6. Why do you need me?” Luna asks curiously.

“She has taken someone I cared for. And I have a 7 year old baby sister to think about. I can’t let her win. If she does, she wants it all including Water Side.” Lexa pauses to see Luna’s reaction but she seems to be thinking. “Besides, the place that Nia is at have an open area. But at the back area is the ocean. I thought maybe you could help with that. While the others distract them from the front, you could help me by coming in from the back.”

“Is Ocean crew with her?”

“Yes they are. You can have their territory if we win.” Lexa offers in a heartbeat.

“Just like that?”

“You have never given me a reason not to trust you Luna. So yes, just like that.”

“Alright. I’ll help you. Let me make a few phone calls and then you can brief me and my people.”

And just like that it’s 7 crews against 5. Lexa knew that it’s still early to celebrate but she couldn’t help but feel immense relief when Luna said that she’ll help. Lexa just hoped that Clarke would hold on until she comes for her.

“Stay strong my love. I’m coming.” Lexa whispers to no one.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Be caution in this one because there is some torture scene. Stay safe.

_ Somewhere North of Nia’s Hideout _

It’s been about 4 hours since Clarke was brought into this room. They didn’t wait any longer because the moment she was dragged in, they strip her of her clothes (except for her panties), hung her tied wrists up by the hook hanging from the ceiling, cauterized her bullet wound carelessly and then started their beatings on her. The only break she got was when the punisher himself needed a break. It went on continuously for 3 hours and all that while, Nia was seated by the corner, enjoying the view with a smirk on her face.

The room she was in was the size of her old ‘training’ room. There’s a small window at the top, to her right and the sliding door in front of her is made of metal. At the top left hand corner from Clarke, there is a 14 inch TV screen that shows the corridor to the outside of the room. Nia’s men are walking back and forth along the corridor and there is a guard posted right outside the room.

Her ribs that was healing nicely before, is fractured again. Her breathing hurts but she manages. Her face is bloodied, bruised and swollen beyond recognition... again. And added to the mixture is the pounding headache. Her throat got punched again which results in her having a coughing fit for a while. A few of the stitches from the stab wound she received from Quint, is bleeding open again. And plus, the bullet wound on her leg that has been cauterized earlier so that she won’t bleed out but it’s already starting to get an infection. Her wrists are no better since it got pulled down by her weight. Her body feels like it’s on fire and it’s pulsing all over.

Right now, Clarke’s hanging limply by her wrists with her head hung forward and Nia is just quietly sitting at the corner, analyzing her. She’s passed out when Nia brought a bucket of ice cold water and splashed it on her limped body. She jerks awake, gasping for air only for her to greet her teeth in pain remembering that she had broken some of her ribs. But it felt slightly better to her heated body.

“Good nap?” Nia asks as she smiles sadistically at Clarke. “I enjoy this; watching you in pain. I get a kick from torturing people.” Nia said excitedly. You know, my father did it to my mother and when I was old enough, he did it to me too. Of course when I saw an opportunity, I tied him up while he was passed out drunk one night and did to him what he did to my mother and me and killed that son of a bitch before he could break me like how he broke my mother. But then it dawned on me... I liked it. To see he squirmed and whined; pleading pathetically, like how my mom pleads for him to stop. I then realized why he does it. And now I understood why.” 

She grabbed Clarke by her jaw and forcefully pulls Clarke’s face towards hers. “You don’t scream and that’s why I like you better. And I’ve known about your history with Lexa. Why do you think I like to pick on you? When I invited Lexa that night you killed Emerson, I wanted to see her reaction. And when she asked to congratulate you in person, I knew I had her. That’s why I had you followed. And when the picture of you and Lexa at the diner came... Jackpot!” Nia chuckles. “And to see all this blood on you...” Nia breathes in and exhales in satisfaction. “I love it.” She whispers in to Clarke’s ear.

Nia then turns her face and kisses Clarke’s bloodied lips all the while dragging her free hand south to where Clarke’s stab wound is and forcefully claws on it. Clarke whimpers but Nia didn’t stop. She leans away and looks at Clarke wincing in pain and smiles at that. When the pain was too much, Clarke’s head droop and rested on Nia’s shoulder. Nia chuckle in satisfaction but kept clawing at it until the stitches were broken off. With her hand covered in Clarke’s blood Nia brought it to Clarke’s face and smothers her with it. Nia laughs at that and went to open the door and asks one of her guards for his belt.

Nia turns back to facing Clarke with a smirk on her face. In her hand held a thick leather belt with a steel buckle. Clarke shakily looks up and saw what Nia’s holding in her hand and her eyes widen as much as it could considering its nearly swollen shut. Nia had a gleam in her eyes when she saw Clarke flinch at the sight of the belt.

“You know what’s coming don’t ya?” Nia asks and she begins to laugh. She then slowly circles Clarke like a predator ready to pounce on its prey. Clarke was breathing rapidly and she tried to move her body away from Nia but it didn’t make much of a difference. Nia then stops behind Clarke and begins beating her. The pain was different from a whip but it hurts all the same. A belt doesn’t slice you open but the impact to your skins feels thick and heavy. Nia hits her with force but the buckle hitting the side of her ribs and the back of her head repeatedly. Clarke lost count after 20 when she passes out again. She didn’t know for how long she was out but when she came to again, there were sounds of gunshots from somewhere outside of the building. The door was slightly ajar and she could hear Nia cursing out loud. Clarke was in so much pain that she didn’t exactly hear the exchange between Nia and her guard but only heard him mentioning Lexa. Nia growls and screams an order to him and he was out of her sight in an instant.

She came back in with one of her men. She stood in front of Clarke looking all kinds of furious, “How the hell did she found me huh?! Answer me!!” 

Clarke didn’t answer only giving her a tired smirk. Nia slaps her hard before nodding towards the man that stood next to her. He stood in front of Clarke and did another round of beatings; as much as he could give to her before someone infiltrates the building. Clarke was starting to gasp for air when he landed a hard one on her fractured ribs.

“Tell your precious Commander that I’m coming for her.” Nia growls to her ear. Nia’s man gave Clarke a few punches in before they left her gasping for air that it’s started to make her feel woozy. Everything is starting to get dark but she needs to stay awake. Stay awake long enough to see her favourite green eyes. 

~~

After briefing Luna and her people, they were set off towards Nia’s hideout. Lexa have already radioed to every crew that she wanted the enemy’s leaders captured and spare their people if they were given a choice. Lexa told Indra to take lead for their crew and that she will infiltrate from the back of the hideout with Luna and her crew.

When their boats got closer to the hideout, Lexa gave the go ahead to Indra to begin the attack. And once they heard the gunshots going off, Luna told one of her men named Jack to take the lead and help Indra and the rest up front with the distraction. Roan volunteers to go with them as well. She then asks Derek and 10 more to stay with her to help Lexa find Clarke. 

Once they were on land, they move towards the back door of the building. Suddenly the back door burst open and 6 of Nia’s men came out from it. Before they could even react to seeing the Commander, Lexa shot 4 of them and sliced and stabs 2 with her sword.

“Nice.” Luna exclaimed in astonishment. She then turns to her men, “You three stay and keep a look out and make sure none of the enemy comes through here. The rest of you, follow us.”

When they got in there Lexa saw Nia trying to run the other way. She tried to give chase but a few of the enemy came out from their hiding spot and started firing at them.

“Luna! Take your men and go get Nia.” Lexa shouted through the shootings.

“On it!”

“Anya, Gustus, you’re with me.” Lexa added.

All of them started firing back and manages to shoot the enemy down before Luna and her men went off to the direction where Nia ran to. Once they were off, Lexa, Anya and Gustus venture further inside and went towards the corridor that Lexa saw Nia came from earlier. Most of the doors were locked and for those that weren’t, turned out empty. But there was one particular door that caught her attention. It’s a sliding metal door. With slow careful step, she reaches for the handle. Before sliding it open, Lexa turns to Anya and Gustus and they both gave her ‘ready’ nod. They both held their guns and aim at the door. With a deep breath, Lexa slides the door open slowly. She peeks in and saw Clarke hanging by a hook. Her head was hung low and she was gasping for air.

“Oh God!! Clarke!!” Lexa quickly steps in while the other two followed. “Clarke... Hey... Gustus help me!”

Gustus went to help Lexa lift Clarke by her waist while Anya unhooks her. She then cut the rope off her wrists and they gently laid Clarke on the floor. Anya took her coat off and drapes it over Clarke’s naked body while Lexa held her. Anya assesses Clarke and saw big bruises forming all over her rib and stomach area. But her left rib was the worse. 

“Clarke... I’m here.” Lexa pleads. But Clarke was still gasping for air. 

Anya looks on worriedly. “We need to get her out of here now. I think her rib punctured her lung; that’s why she’s gasping.” Clarke then slowly opens her eyes but her eyes were almost swollen shut. But she manages to see teary green eyes looking down at her. She felt her own tears running down the side of her face before her eyes close again.

“Derek! Is it clear out back?” Anya radioed out to Derek who Luna left with 2 other men to stand guard at the back door.

“All clear.” Derek replies.

“Get the boat ready. We found Clarke and she’s seriously wounded, we need to evacuate immediately.”

“Copy that.”

Lexa was still holding on to Clarke when Gustus kneels down and carried Clarke bridal style without a word. “Derek says it’s all clear back there. So we need to go now.” Anya added. Lexa nods and stood up and follows Anya out of the building.

On the way out, Lexa radioed Indra, “Indra, I’ve found Clarke and am on the way to Nyko. Report to Anya back at the manor once everything is done.”

“Yes Heda.”

Once they got on the boat, Gustus laid Clarke down gently and Lexa was quick to sit by her and reach out to hold her hand. Derek drove them away from the chaos as soon as they’re all settled in.

“Anya, call Nyko and tell him the situation.” Lexa told Anya without looking away from Clarke’s unconscious body. Suddenly Luna’s voice came through her earpiece.

“Heda, I’ve got Nia. What do you want me to do with her?”

Lexa greeted her teeth at the news. “Bring her to my manor. Gustus will take it from there. You’re welcome to stay after.”

“I copy, Heda.”

Lexa then looks up to Gustus, “Luna will bring Nia to the manor. Toss her in the basement until further notice.”

“Of course, Heda.”

Lexa looks down at Clarke and saw how she’s still breathing in short fast breaths. Lexa leans down and whispers to Clarke’s ear, “Hold on for me, okay?” Even when Clarke didn’t seem to be responding, Lexa knew she heard her by the light squeeze she felt in her hand that held onto Clarke’s.

Looking down at Clarke’s swollen, bloodied face makes her so angry and she vows to make Nia pay for what she has done. But for now, Clarke is her priority. Nia can wait as long as she wants her to.

~~ 

A week has passed since Lexa saved Clarke, and here she is lying in the hospital bed in a medically induced coma breathing steadily through a tube attached to her throat. When they got to Nyko’s clinic, one look from him and he told Lexa that she needs a hospital. And so Nyko patched Clarke up as much as he could before he led them to Polis General.

Once they got there, Nyko got to work while Lexa was forced to wait in the waiting room. It was the longest 3 hours of her life. And when Nyko stepped out of the OR; she was told that 4 of Clarke’s left ribs were broken and she fractured 3 on her right. Her nose is also broken and both her eye sockets were cracked. The bullet wound above her right knee was already infected and her old stab wound was forcefully open and was starting to get infected too. She suffered a very high fever because of it. Her brain had a little swelling and so is the back of her head. Her back and all the way down to the back of her thighs is covered with bruises. Nyko suspected she was hit with something but can’t quite pin point to what it was. Her wrists were dislocated from being hung from it for too long and it had burn marks from the rope. And he explained that he had to put her in a medically induced coma to help her heal.

And so now here she is, sitting by the bedside, her left hand laid gently on top of Clarke’s right, watching her breathing steadily through the breathing tube. From what she was told from Nyko is that her brain swelling has reduced, her fever seems to be going down too and he has already put her off of her induced coma which is a good thing but she still hasn’t woken up yet. He said that it’s all up to her from now on. 

Clarke has been on her mind ever since and everything else can wait. Anya came by almost every day to keep her informed of the situations about the crews and to bring her clean clothes and food. She was told that the 4 enemy leaders were captured right after Nia was and the rest of the crews are waiting for her decisions on what to do with the 5 and regarding their turfs that are now currently vacant. Lexa was relief that they weren’t fighting over it and also she was told by the leaders to take her time with Clarke and that the situation can wait.

Echo called her once to ask about Clarke’s condition. She thought of coming to visit but Madi had gotten attached to her. And the thought of bringing a 7 year old to see her favourite person in a bad state was not a good idea. So she resulted in calling. Echo told her that Madi kept asking about Clarke and so Lexa had no choice but to explain to Madi as delicately as she could through the phone. She didn’t take it too well but Lexa reminded Madi of how Clarke would want her to be brave. Thankfully that got her to calm down.

Nia is still in her basement, tied up against the wall along with the other four leaders. Lexa remembered what Clarke told her about how Nia’s people treated her and that’s what she told Gustus to do. She told him to give them thin clothing, mash up goo for a meal per day, a bucket for relief and dumped a bucket of ice cold water on them for their bath each. She also told Gustus to be physical if he needs to be but do not hurt them to the point of killing because she had something in mind for them.

Her mind was occupied by the thought of Clarke when she was snapped out of it by a booming voice coming from the nurses’ station just beyond the closed door of the room. She recognizes who the voice belongs to and she wonders how the hell she knew about Clarke being here. Before she could ponder any further, the door burst open and in came Abby Griffin in all of her fuming arrogant glory.

“What the hell happened to her?! Why is she here?!” Abby asks loudly in the quiet room.

“Dr. Griffin, I’ve already told you, if you have any questions, you can talk to Dr Nyko. He is the attending doctor to Ms. Griffin.” The nurse who followed Abby into the room explains.

Abby ignores the nurse, “I’m her mother and I’m also a doctor here!!” She then went on to grab Clarke’s chart and skim through it as she rambles to herself. When she was done she looks up to the nurse again and furiously asked, “How did she have so many injuries?! How the hell did all of this happened?!”

Before the nurse could reply to Abby, Lexa stops her with the raise of her right hand. “You need to keep your voice down. This is a hospital. You as a _doctor_ should know that.” Lexa accentuated the word doctor to Abby.

Abby raised an eyebrow with her hands on her hips. “And who the hell are you?”

“I’m Clarke’s girlfriend. I don’t know how you found out about her but you are not welcome here.” Lexa replied without being fazed by Abby’s dominant appearance.

Abby scoffs. “I’m _her mother_. And I work here. I have the right. I haven’t heard from her in, I don’t know how long. So imagine my surprise when I came back from my vacation to someone telling me that there’s a woman by the name of Griffin brought in last week. And the woman fits my daughter’s description. And now, I came to find her like this?!”

“In case you want to know, she left the day after she graduated high school. She never told anyone, including me. I came back a year after she left, knocking on your door with no answer. And I came to you to the hospital. All you told me was ‘she’ll probably be home soon’.”

“I remember you...” Abby interrupts.

“When Clarke told me everything about what happened to her, I realized that you didn’t even know that she was gone back then. How careless were you?”

“She didn’t care to come home at all. And I don’t have the time to look for her with my busy schedule.” Abby answers like it’s nothing.

“I guess Clarke was right, you never knew her at all.” Lexa pauses but when Abby kept silent, she took it as an opportunity to speak her mind. “After all these years, you never once tried to find her. Now you came back from your _‘vacation’_ to this and you want to freak out like some worried mother? Clarke told me you were never there for her when Jake was alive. Hell you’re even worse after he died. You left your daughter all alone, so why would you care now?”

“You don’t know anything about me! I love my daughter! I worked hard for her!” Abby said getting pissed about getting called out by a complete stranger.

“I guess you work so hard that you _forgot_ that you have a daughter. Tell me, did you know what she went through in school after her father died? Did you ever ask her about how her days were? Did you know the many times she got bullied and beaten in school and having to go home to an empty house to nurse her own wounds by herself? She has learned to depend on herself because of it. She doesn’t even have you as her emergency contact right now. That’s pretty much what you mean to her. So I’m going to have to ask you to leave or I’m calling security.”

“You can’t make me leave. I’m her mother and I’m staying.” Abby said confidently.

“Yes I can.” Abby looks at Lexa confused. “Let me introduce myself. I’m Alexandria Woods; Commander of Polis and I, bought half of the share to this hospital. So I could have anyone remove from this hospital and I could _fire,_ anyone working here including you. In fact, I owned half of every company here in Polis including the police precincts. So you can go ahead and try to make a report if you’d like but it won’t get you anywhere. So I’m asking you again _nicely_ , to please leave and to stay away from Clarke.” Abby glares at Lexa who doesn’t cower. She only glares right back. 

Ever since Lexa became the Commander, she wanted to change how things run in their businesses. Her father was ruthless and he would do anything to get what he wanted including murder. Nia shares the same views and since she wanted to rule it all, she and her father worked together. And now, she’s working hard in trying to clean up the mess that they both did. She’s also working towards peace between the crews and to legalize their businesses. She started with buying half the shares of hospitals and police precincts since crew wars are messy business. That way she could keep tabs and change whatever needs to be changed. She also helped made the companies, which she half owned, better. So far everything went well. She doesn’t like making it known about how she owned practically half of everything in this city and she doesn’t like taking credits for what she had done to make everything better.

“You can’t keep me away from my daughter.” Abby said with conviction.

“I will see to it that you will.” Lexa said with finality.

With a huff, Abby storms out of the room. The nurse apologizes before taking her leave and softly shutting the door on her way out. Lexa finally let out a breath and drop herself back down on the chair with a sigh. She hunches forward and leans on her knees and rubs her tired face.

On the bed, Clarke opens her eyes and looks to her right at Lexa’s hunch over appearance. She heard the whole argument and pretended to be asleep. Her throat was uncomfortable but she kept still. She doesn’t want her mother to have the luxury of seeing her awake. Honestly, she doesn’t even want her mother to see her at all. And thank God, Lexa knew that. 

So with slow shaky movement, she reaches for Lexa. But only the tip of her middle finger manages to reach Lexa and so she lightly scratches Lexa’s triceps to get her attention. Lexa leans away from her hands and look down to the sensation on her arm and saw bandaged hand lightly scratching on it. She looks up with wide eyes and realizes that Clarke is awake. She stood up, held Clarke’s hand with her right and caresses the blonde’s hair with her left while leaning closer to get a better look at her favourite blue eyes.

“Hi.” She whispers to Clarke with a teary smile on her face. Clarke tries returning one to her but given the tube in her mouth, she only manages a small one back.

Clarke then shakily raises her left hand towards the tube and taps on it. Lexa got the message and press down on the call button on the side of the bed. A few moments later, the same nurse came in; saw Clarke awake and then paged Dr. Nyko. She came to the other side of the bed and check Clarke’s vitals. When everything seems fine, she told them that the doctor’s on his way. Lexa only nods her head then leans down to kiss Clarke on her forehead. 

~~

Clarke stayed in the hospital for another week before she was discharged. Abby was waiting for them at the waiting area when she learned about it. She tried to talk to Clarke but Lexa stopped her from getting close. Abby was pissed at not being able to get close to her daughter but Lexa wouldn’t budge.

“Whatever you want to say to her; you can say it at this distance. She’s not deaf.” Lexa told Abby.

Abby tried moving past Lexa but she didn’t get far because Echo appears out from the elevator and saw Clarke sitting rigidly on her wheelchair; looking straight ahead. She quickly stood next to Clarke blocking her view from the woman.

“Are you okay?” Echo asks.

 _“I’m fine.”_ Clarke signs.

 _“Who is she?”_ Echo signs back so that they could have a private conversation. And Clarke signs, _“Mother.”_ And Echo understood the situation.

Abby saw the exchange and decided to say something about it. “Really Clarke? Secret sign language; just to avoid talking to me? Real mature Clarke.”

Clarke greeted her teeth and turns to glare at the woman who gave birth to her. _“I lost my voice because I got mixed up with the wrong people trying to find a home somewhere. I don’t wanna see or talk to you because I don’t want to. You never cared before, so why bother now. You reached out to me now because of coincidence. You wouldn’t care if it wasn’t.”_ Clarke signs furiously towards her mother which Echo translated. By now the tears of frustration, hurt and sadness already started rolling down Clarke’s cheeks.

 _“All the money you gave me, I never touched it so I’m not indebted to you. I have nothing connected to you. The only thing that connects me to you is that you were the one who birthed me. Dad was the one who raised me. He was my mother, my father and my friend. I lost my everything when he died. And you? You left me... all... alone.”_ Clarke sniffs and looks down to Abby’s hand and saw a wedding ring on her finger. She would know if it’s the one she shared with her father but it’s not. _“I guess you’ve already replaced him. Enjoy your new life Abby. And stay gone from mine.”_

Clarke wipes away the tears and look to Lexa then signs ‘home’ to her that Echo translates. Lexa nods solemnly when she saw Clarke crying and helped wheeled her away from Abby but not before giving the woman a glare. Abby was left frozen on the spot with tears streaming down her face as well. 

Once they were in the elevator, Lexa kneeled beside Clarke. She looked her in the eyes, “I’m so proud of you for standing up to Abby.” She whispered before hugging Clarke. For the first time Clarke felt lighter. And she was glad that she got the chance to say what she needs to say to her mother. And it felt good. 

~~

6 months passed; Clarke was healing nicely. Her scars were permanent and so is the leg brace. Nyko did tell her that her knee injury was permanent. But the permanence of wearing a brace didn’t bother her; she was just glad to be alive. She and Lexa are ready to deal with Nia and Lexa shared her decision making with Clarke who gave her all the support she needed. Now she stands in the meeting room with the leaders of the remaining 6 crews with Lexa by her side.

“I call upon all of you because I have made my decision on what to do with Nia and the other four leaders.” Lexa begins.

“What do you have in mind Heda?” One of the leaders asks.

“Death by a hundred cuts. One cut per person until either they bleed out or... by my blade if they manage to stay alive until the hundredth.” Lexa explains. “Do you all agree?” They all nodded their agreement with smiles on their faces and giving handshakes to each other. Clarke and Lexa share a look and a small smile to each other before they began discussing on how to spread and share of the now vacant turfs to the rest of them. As promised, Luna gets the Ocean Crews’ turf.

Everything was starting to go according to plan for Lexa. Peace is forming between the remaining crews and the legalization of their businesses looks to be going on the right direction too. Everything was starting to be how Lexa always pictured it to be and with an added bonus because Clarke is by her side seeing through all of this with her. If a year ago someone were to tell her that Clarke would be by her side, sharing her happiness in achieving her goals, she would have told that person to fuck off. But seeing as now Clarke **is** by her side, she couldn’t ask for more. 

~~

When the four leaders were brought out for their execution, they looked to have been roughed up. Lexa explained to Clarke because they were given the same treatment like how Clarke was given during her time with Nia only minus the torture. Lexa figured that the cuttings should be punishment enough because they are going to die one way or the other. When the punishment for the four leaders was on going, it was as to be expected; they all bleed out around the 70th cut. But Nia? Nia stayed strong and right now she’s on the 99th cut and when the 100th came, she was still breathing. You gotta give her credit though; she’s one tough son of a bitch.

Lexa offered Clarke the honour to take her life but Clarke refused. And so Lexa step in front of Nia and was ready to drive her sword through Nia’s heart. Nia was coughing up blood before she speaks.

“I’ll be... seeing you... and your... precious... Wanheda... in hell.” She wheezes out the words.

“I doubt it.” And with that, Lexa drives her sword straight through Nia’s heart and saw the light in her eyes dies. Nia’s head slumped forward and soon her body goes limp by the pole. Everybody erupted in cheers because finally the Ice Queen is now dead. Lexa turns and Clarke was already walking towards her. She held her arms open for Clarke to step in and they embrace each other. Clarke felt safe now knowing that the woman who tortured and tormented her has been killed by the woman that held her heart. The nightmares and memories are still there but she will learn to overcome it. And with Lexa by her side, anything’s possible. 

~~ 

A year has come to pass since the death of Nia. And Clarke has been doing pretty well. The nightmares are still lingering in her head from time to time but she didn’t let it control her anymore. Lexa and Madi has been a constant in her life now and they are reason enough for her to stay strong. Her scars are now a reminder that she’s a survivor. And Lexa would always remind her of that every day. She would also tell her of how proud she is of her for overcoming everything. And that makes her feel proud of herself too. Lexa has been the pillar she’s always needed in her life. And she wishes that her father could have met her. She’s sure that her father would’ve liked Lexa.

She had long gotten used to her braced knee. Her voice is healing but it still hurts to talk and so she used a lot of notepads and sign language. Madi is picking up on the sign language quite quickly for her age and Lexa only knows a few words to sign. Clarke doesn’t mind the notepad but Lexa insisted on learning a few sign words. So far her life has completely turned around for the better. And she never thought that it would.

Echo and Roan was by her side through it all and she’s grateful to have friends like them who understood what she was going through before. They are still very much a part of her life and they are working for Lexa right now. They do drop by the manor every weekend. Echo claimed that she misses Clarke but Clarke knows its Madi that she’s grown attached to and so does Madi to her.

Madi is glued to Clarke every second of every day before and after school. And Clarke enjoyed her clinginess; although Lexa would pretend to be jealous about it.

“Madi, why do you get to sit on Clarke’s lap? I want to sit on her lap too?” Lexa innocently asked Madi one night when they were watching a movie.

“You’re heavy. And I’m keeping Clarke warm without crushing her knee.” Madi replies instantly without breaking eye contact with the TV. Clarke and Lexa shared an amused looks and the three of them ended up sleeping on the sofa all cuddled up against each other that night.

As for Lexa; she has been perfect. She’s very attentive to everything Clarke’s feeling. She is the shoulder to cry on, her comforter on a chilly night, and her breath of fresh air. Lexa is her everything she never knew she needed.

If someone were to tell her two years ago that she will soon have her happily ever after, she would have given that person a deadpan look. And if someone were to tell her that Lexa would be her home, she would have punched that person’s face. For so long she has spent hating Lexa for leaving her and now she felt an immense love for this woman. This is her second chance at a happy life. And with Lexa by her side, this is all that she would ever want and need. Lexa made a promise to be her forever when they were teens. And now, with her kneeling on one knee before Clarke with Madi by her side with broad smiles on both their faces...

“Clarke, I made a promise to be your forever once. I loved you back then and even though we were apart for 8 years after that, I have never stopped loving you. And now after the hell that we’ve been through, I want to spend the rest of my days being married to you. So will you do me an honour of being my wife?” Lexa open the box and in it held the most beautiful diamond ring Clarke has ever seen.

Clarke who already had tears pooling in her eyes, nodded her head vigorously. Lexa stood up and slips the ring on her finger. They then share a kiss and then brought Madi in for a group hug.

“I... love...you... both... always...” Clarke whispers hoarsely between them.

“I love you both too.” Lexa replies.

“I love you both three!!” Madi all but squeals.

Lexa re-enforced the promise she made of being Clarke’s forever. And now with the three of them in a group hug, Clarke couldn’t ask for anything better than this.

Life’s hasn’t always been nice to Clarke but at this moment, the universe has finally given her a break. Even though she has lost her wonderful loving father and a non-existent mother who doesn’t deserve her tears, she has gain two very special people in her life and together they are a family that Clarke could call her own. Finally her life is great. Finally, she will never be alone.

**Author's Note:**

> Please excuse any mistakes; they are my own.


End file.
